Jeremy and Aelita quickly get into their car, still uncomfortable because of that man.
As Jeremy pulls away and begins to speed down the highway, Aelita stares out the window. The ride is unusually silent, the radio playing, but seemingly not breaking the harsh tension in the air, the spectre of the man looming over both of them.
As Aelita stares out the window, she looks back and sees somebody…sees him, sitting on the side of the road. She's about to say something, but as she blinks, he's gone, seemingly nowhere around. God…that weird man…he's got me hallucinating him just by following us.
She's again about to tell Jeremy about the hallucination and the thoughts but she stops herself, realizing quickly that telling him would only make him more anxious than he already was and that wasn't a good idea when he's in control of a vehicle. She'll be okay waiting until they get home, besides, he's probably just some random guy and they're just overthinking it all…right?
—
It's not long after Aelita's hallucinations of that man that she's snapped back to reality by the sweeping relief of returning home. She's almost excited to finally be getting home, able to relax, away from work and their worries for the next two weeks. As she's getting out of the car, a voice finally breaks the near deafening silence.
"How much do you want to bet that she's waiting right next to the door?"
"Oh please Jeremy, you know you're too good at making bets, it's unfair!" She exclaims with a laugh, the stress of their work and that man finally seeming to lift.
As Jeremy pushes the door open, he has to pause halfway to not hit the small girl standing there. Her wide child smile and glimmering eyes, one sapphire blue and one emerald green, shine in happiness as she stares up at Jeremy.
"Daddy!" She exclaims, the little girl latching onto his leg like a koala or a monkey on a tree branch.
"Hi honey, did you miss us?" Jeremy asks, despite obviously knowing the answer. He looks down at the little girl still attached to his leg, before finally picking her up, wrapping her in his arms.
"Yeah!" She's still in Jeremy's arms when she looks at Aelita, her eyes lightening her mother's mood up that bit more. The little girl tries to squirm her way into laying in both her parents' arms as they walk over to the couch.
They sit on the couch together like that for hours, the only real intermission being for cooking dinner, just cuddling. Aelita and Jeremy in each other's arms with their little Anthea on their laps, it's peaceful like that.
As the clock hits nine, a small yawn breaks the peaceful ambience, and the little girl begins to feel heavy on her father's lap.
"Are you ready for bed, Princess?" He nudges her, slowly transferring her from his lap into his arms.
"I may be, Jeremy!" Aelita exclaims at the question not directed at her.
"Honey, you're not a princess anymore…you're the queen."
Aelita blushes and almost begins to laugh, that response from Jeremy making her think back to the nervous, stuttering blonde she met all those years ago, and how him trying to be that smoothe would have never worked well.
They both put Anthea to bed before walking back out to the couch, they don't even bother going to bed or putting pajamas on, they just curl up with each other. This isn't an unusual routine for them, them being so enthralled with each other that they don't even bother to do anything other than cuddle.
They sit there in uninterrupted calm for hours, until they hear the small tip tap of someone walking down the hallway. Jeremy gets up, seeing Anthea walking towards them, wrapped in her blanket, her little elf doll clutched between her small hands, crying and afraid. This sight breaks his heart, and he doesn't hesitate to pick up the little girl and wrap her in his arms.
"What was it, princess?" He tries to ask her, Aelita coming over as he stands there.
"I-it w-was a-at my window" is all she can stutter out, before crying into her father's arms.
"What is it, Jeremy?"
"She said something, "it", was at her window…"
This is clearly not what Aelita expected, her daughter had never seen anything like that before. She quickly walks off to Anthea's room, hoping to catch a glimpse of the thing her daughter said was at her window. Jeremy sits down, holding his daughter close, the thought of anyone or anything at her window making his own anxieties spike. Not long later, Aelita walls back out, assuring her husband that she saw nothing and nobody.
Jeremy and Aelita agree to let their daughter sleep with them tonight, and she just curls up to Jeremy as he and Aelita cuddle with each other. Not too long later, the little girl is fast asleep and Jeremy and Aelita are beginning to drift off when…
BANG BANG BANG
The bangs jolt them awake and upright, concerned looks spreading across their faces. Jeremy motions for Aelita to stay back, giving her Anthea as he walks over to their front
Jeremy stands there, hesitant to do anything. Before he can move, the person on the other end busts the door down and Jeremy's eyes meet the sunglasses and barrel of the pistol from a secret service agent.
"U-uh, is th-there a problem here, s-sir?" Jeremy barely stutters out, feeling his life flash before his eyes.
The agent turns to the others behind him, before giving an order that sends Jeremy running backwards.
"GRAB THEM!"
Anthea is finally woken up by the chaos as men storm into their house, only able to watch as her parents are grabbed. Jeremy tries his best to fight off the men, able to push one off him, only for two others to grab him, almost slamming him into the wall.
"Easy now! Take them alive, that's our orders! Don't try to beat him to death!"
"Stop! Let us go!" Aelita shouts, trying to seemingly beg for her life, but it has no effect on these agents.
"Where is your warrant! You can't do this to us!" Jeremy yells at these people, but all he gets in return is a laugh.
"Who says this is an "on the books" arrest?" One of the men holding Jeremy replies, only holding him tighter, to the point he can barely move his arms.
The men hold onto Jeremy tight, beginning to literally drag him down the hall whilst he struggles. Aelita is having a worse time with the agents, not even able to fight one off before they've got her where she can't fight back. A shrill, young voice soon breaks the chaos of the room.
"Mommy! Daddy! Don't go!" Anthea screams, running down the hall towards her parents. Everyone looks up, the pain on their faces only made worse seeing the panicked and tearful expression of their daughter, and knowing they can't physically stop this. The men aren't sympathetic though, not doing anything about the girl, but not releasing Jeremy and Aelita.
"Anthea!" They cry out to her, almost in unison, tears beginning to fall from both of them. They're helpless to do anything though, as they get dragged out the front door and forced into these black cars.
The last thing they see before they're driven off, is their house, with their front door ajar, and a scared, sad small child standing at the front door.
Anthea closes the door before running back down the hallway, past the broken lamp and general mess and destruction in the living room, and crawls onto the couch to cry.
She lays there for hours, long enough for the sun to rise, but she doesn't look up. She's scared the men will come back, and broken inside about them taking her parents, and now she's all alone…right?
—
"Time to get this set up…"
Yumi begins to grab for her phone, excited to finally be setting up a reunion with her old friends, when Ulrich stops her.
"Babe, are you sure they're awake?"
"Ulrich, you know those two Einsteins, they've always been early risers. I don't see why they wouldn't be."
"Well, it's only like nine in the morning for them, I'd assume they'd use their break time to sleep in for once."
"Well timezones make this tricky, it's late for us right now, and early for them, we can't really call many other times. They may be awake at nine, but you sure aren't! We have to try at some point, and if they don't answer, then they're asleep."
Ulrich sighs before accepting that she's right.
"Alright, let's try it."
Yumi presses Jeremy's number, and waits as it begins to ring.
—
Anthea is finally sitting up, her face is sticky and the couch is damp from where she was crying, but she's finally calming down when Jeremy's phone begins to ring.
Getting up to answer it, she remembers her parents' rule about answering the phone when they aren't home; "Only answer the phone if it's someone we trust." As she walks over to the counter and looks down, she notices the name on the phone, Yumi.
Anthea doesn't know a lot about the Japanese lady or any of her parents' other friends, but she does recognize the name enough to know her parents trust this lady. So, only a few seconds later, she accepts the call and begins to talk.
—
"Hello?"
"H-Hi…" a small, high pitched voice replies
Yumi is surprised and almost doesn't know what to say when she hears not Jeremy or Aelita, but their daughter.
"Hello Anthea"
"Hi…"
"Are mommy and daddy around, can I talk to them?"
She's not 100% sure what she expects when the phone goes quiet on the other line, but it definitely isn't the crying she begins to hear from the little girl.
"Is everything okay Anthea? Where are your mommy and daddy?"
These questions and the look of concern becoming evident on Yumi's face is enough for Ulrich to take notice that something may be wrong.
"N-no…mommy and daddy are gone…"
Yumi can feel her breath hitch and her face contort into an even more concerned expression as she almost begins to stutter and her thoughts begin to race. Jeremy and Aelita wouldn't go anywhere without their phones or their daughter, what could she mean GONE?
"Do you know where mommy and daddy went?"
"N-no…big scary men came…they took my mommy and daddy away…they were scared…I want my mommy and daddy!"
Yumi's mouth begins to twitch and a tear rolls down her face as she takes in what the little girl is saying. Her friends, the little Einstein duo that she had known for 17 years and literally saved the damn world with…were taken, with their five year old daughter only able to watch.
"D-don't worry Anthea, it'll all be o-okay. You can always c-call me if y-you need. Goodbye Anthea…" she stutters out, not sure who she was actually trying to comfort, the little girl or herself.
"B-bye…"
Yumi finally lets out that breath and has to hold onto Ulrich's arm to not pass out as her mind races faster than any jet aircraft. Jeremy and Aelita were TAKEN?! No! No! This CAN'T be happening! What should I do?!
She's on the verge of hyperventilating before Ulrich is finally able to snap her back into the real world.
"Yumi! Yumi! Tell me what's going on! What has you so panicked?! Yumi!"
She looks up at her husband, color having drained from her face, as she begins to speak.
"Jeremy and Aelita were taken!"