Guardian of the Night
By Cybra

A/N: Wait. What's this? Jeremy/Aelita fluff? From me? I must've popped a synapse. Or Jeremy's finally cooperating. Too bad it's so sappy.

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by French people who are richer than I am. The italicized lyrics at the beginning are taken from the By the Sword album, actual lyrics by Mercedes Lackey, performed by Meg Davis.

Guardian of the night, watch while I'm sleeping
Here in danger's arms keep me from harm
Creatures of the dark steal from my dreaming
Soft breezes whisper your magical charms
— "Guardian of the Night" (Mercedes Lackey)

Jeremy Belpois had not been asleep for fifteen minutes when an urgent knock on his door woke him. Moaning, he slipped back out of bed and stumbled blindly to the door.

Opening the door, he rubbed at his right eye and muttered, "Jim, I didn't do anything. I swear."

"I'm not Jim. Take that back!" the irritatingly familiar voice of Sissy Delmas hissed, obviously trying not to wake the aforementioned gym teacher.

Jeremy blinked, trying to clear his vision, and squinted. "Sissy? What're you doing here?"

"It's Aelita, your girlfriend. She's been screaming her head off again because of some nightmare." Judging by the way the blur in front of him moved, Sissy had put her hands on her hips.

"She's not my—"

"Well, I don't care what she is. Go do something about it! Some of us can't get our beauty sleep."

"You certainly need it," Jeremy muttered peevishly.

"What was that?" she snarled.

"Nothing." He turned back into his room. "Look, I'll go talk to Aelita."

"How?" she asked. "Telepathy?"

Jeremy turned his head, giving her a squinty-eyed glare. "I wear glasses for a reason, Sissy," he snapped. "I can't see two feet in front of me without them. But if you want me to stumble about and wake Jim and everybody else…"

He let the statement hang, allowing her to think over how much of a Very Bad Idea it was to let an exceptionally nearsighted person navigate blindly when he was trying to be quiet.

She waited for him as he grabbed his glasses and slipped on his sneakers. Then he cautiously followed her to the girls' dorms, continually checking over his shoulder, expecting to see Jim, Mrs. Hertz, or some other teacher standing there.

But the phantom teacher never appeared. Instead, he made it to Aelita's room unmolested.

Quietly, he knocked on Aelita's door. He called softly, "Aelita?"

She did not answer, but he could hear her muffled cries of distress.

He tested the door handle of her room, surprised when he found it unlocked. He would have to teach her to start locking her door at night for safety reasons. As much as he hated to admit it, Earth was not a nice place. He swiftly slid inside, glancing over his shoulder to see Sissy disappear into her room, and closed the door behind him.

"Aelita," he called again, walking over to her bed and running a hand along her shoulder.

Her eyes instantaneously snapped open. She squeezed the doll in her arms tightly. However, she did recognize him. "Je-Jeremy? Wha—How did you get in here?"

He jerked his thumb back towards her door. "You left your door unlocked."

"Oh." Aelita sat up in bed. "Why are you…" Her voice trailed off as she placed a hand over her mouth in realization. "Did I wake you up, too? Jeremy, I'm sorry!"

Jeremy shook his head. "No, I couldn't hear you. Blame Sissy. She came and got me." He sat down on the edge of her bed. "Aelita, why didn't you tell me you were still having nightmares?"

Her cheeks turned an only slightly lighter shade of pink than her hair as she folder her hands in her lap. "I didn't want to worry you. You're always working so hard on my anti-virus and doing so much for me that I wanted to give you some rest." She gave him a sheepish smile. "I guess…it didn't work, did it?"

Hesitantly, Jeremy reached out and placed a hand on top of hers. "I don't mind. Really."

"But you're not replenishing your energy as much as the others. And you don't allow yourself to relax as much as they do." Her face grew even more troubled than it had before. "Jeremy, I'm stealing your life!"

The blond boy shook his head. "No, you're not. I'm freely giving up that time. You're not making me do anything. And I haven't always taken the best care of myself. Ask any of the others."

"But…"

"Don't argue with me. You won't win." He gave her a lopsided smile. "I can outstubborn you."

"Only on the days I don't outstubborn you," she responded, smiling a little herself.

"True." With one hand still on her hands, he placed another on her arm. "However, next time, will you tell me if you're having nightmares?"

The pink-haired girl nodded.

"Good." The blond boy smiled.

He froze for a second as she gave him a hug before returning it.

'Warning: Brain initiating melt sequence in t-minus ten seconds…'

"Are you going to be okay for tonight?" he asked her gently.

Aelita paused before shyly asking, "Do you think you could stay? Just for tonight?"

'Warning: Reputation about to fly out the window!'

Jeremy felt his cheeks burn as hot as the Sahara Desert. "It…er…I really don't think so…"

---

Aelita watched Jeremy curiously. He had blushed the most brilliant shade of red she had seen on a human not five seconds ago.

"Why can't you stay?" she asked.

She really wanted him to stay. Jeremy made her feel safe. He would keep the nightmares at bay.

"Um…well…it's complicated…"

She tilted her head to one side to show that she was listening.

"Well, if anyone saw me come out of your room tomorrow morning, it'd look really bad for both of us since it would look like we were doing something we shouldn't even if we're a bit young for that sort of thing but we're getting close to that point in our lives that hormones start raging, and I know we'd never do anything like that, but people would gossip anyway…" He paused for a breath. "…and I'm going to shut up before I keep babbling."

Aelita paused, mentally processing Jeremy's words and cross-referencing them with what she had learned via the Internet on human relationships, biological processes, and social rules.

Suddenly, what Jeremy had been trying to say clicked.

"Oh…"

"Yeah. So I should probably, uh, go before…um…"

Aelita stared down at her comforter. She really did not want him to go. Yes, she knew why Jeremy had to go. Human social rules dictated that he had to go. Kadic's dormitory rules dictated that he had to go.

But she did not want the nightmares to come back, and she knew Jeremy would keep them away.

On the other hand, she did not want to keep him from his own bed. Nor did she want him to get in trouble.

"Well, good night, Jeremy," she said lifting her head with a small smile.

Jeremy stood up for a moment, looking uncertain, before sitting back down with a small sigh. "What time does everybody get up around here?"

She blinked in confusion. "Around seven, why?"

"Set your alarm for six-thirty. That way I can sneak out while everyone's still asleep." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Hope you have a spare blanket somewhere."

The pink-haired girl gave him a fierce hug. "Thank you, Jeremy!"

The blond boy hugged her back and released her so that she could get up and rifle through her wardrobe for the spare blanket that she and Yumi had bought while they had gone shopping for her things. (It had been a "necessary evil." According to the boys, the air conditioning never completely shut itself off, so it could get a bit chilly in the dorms at night even during the winter.) However, all she had for him to rest his head on was one of her throw pillows, which she apologized profusely for even as he waved off her apologies.

Jeremy lied down on the floor beside her bed, pulling the blanket over himself and placing the throw pillow beneath his head.

Aelita stepped gingerly over him in order to slide onto the bed. "You're sure you'll be okay down there? I can sleep on the floor if you want…"

"Aelita, I'll be fine. Sleeping on the floor's supposed to be good for your posture or something like that. And Mom's always yelling at me for slouching anyway. Who knows? It might help." He gave her a small smile. "If you start having any nightmares, I'll be right here."

Aelita smiled back at him. "Good night, Jeremy."

"Good night, Aelita."

Not once did she awaken the rest of the night with her guardian on duty.