"Kaiser is a character isn't he?" Sam commented whilst making breakfast early Monday morning.

Odd laughed "Yeah he sure is."

"I heard Yumi's mom is coming over for the baptism of Krystal and Kaiser"

"Yeah she is, even though she wants them to be baptised in Japan, she accepts that it's Yumi's decision"

Odd nodded.

"You know I wonder what Ulrich parents think of Krystal and Kaiser"

Sam shrugged "All I know is that they were happy that they are being baptised in German tradition"

Odd nodded again and began eating his toast while Sam fed Serenity and herself at the same time.

"Mom, am I going to the baptism?" Twinkle asked looking up from her school reading book.

"Course you are, my love, what makes you think you wouldn't be?"

Twinkle shrugged and continued reading.

"Ansel, have you got everything for school?" Jeremie yelled from downstairs

"I have now, dad" Ansel yelled right back

"Hurry up then, son, we got work to go to!"

Ansel hurried downstairs and into the kitchen where he and his dad watched Aelita finish straightening her hair at the same time as doing Ansel's lunch for the day. The sight for the two was quite amusing, as she was doing both tasks one-handed. When she heard sniggering she looked up and gave them both a stern look which caused them to shut up.

Five minutes later they managed to get out of the door with Aelita looking as good as she usually does.

In the car they started to discuss what everyone seemed to be discussing – Ulrich and Yumi with their German baptism.

"Krystal is quite excited about being baptised with her brother, doesn't she?" Aelita said.

"Yeah, but I still think that they should have had her baptised sooner" Jeremie commented.

Aelita shrugged "I suppose but now it's going to be a double celebration, isn't it?" Aelita said with a touch of excitement.

Ansel laughed while Jeremie rolled his eyes at his wife's enthusiasm for parties.

Meanwhile, at the Stern house, things were very lively. So lively indeed that Krystal had gone to her room, straight after school, to get some peace and quiet from Kaiser but especially from her parents.

"Ulrich, what time have you got to go and pick my Mom up from the airport?" Yumi said in a panic and stress from all the arranging.

"I don't know babe" Ulrich replied distracted while he was dressing Kaiser.

Yumi looked like someone had told her that she was going to die in 24 hours with the look she had, as she fled through the house looking for the jotter, which she had put the time her mother would be arriving at the airport.

"Ulrich you've got to pick her up in 10 minutes, so you'd best go now" Yumi said while sitting down and relaxing in the arm chair after being on her feet for the past two hours.

"One problem there, who's going to get Kaiser done then while you have your rest?"

"I will, stupid" Yumi said while putting her arms out for Ulrich to give her Kaiser, but he didn't.

Instead he put him in his cot first and turned to his wife, sat on the arm of the chair and kissed her passionately. Though a little shocked at first, she soon returned the gesture. After a couple of minutes of frenching, they broke apart.

"What was that for?" Yumi asked as Ulrich gave her Kaiser.

"'Coz I'm not going to be able to do that for two weeks except in the privacy of our bedroom but I bet we'll be tired every day from work, and arranging and other stuff"

Yumi understood fully and smiled to herself as she heard the car leave the drive.

'I have the best husband ever' she thought as she continued to feed Kaiser.

Thirty minutes later, Yumi heard the car pull up to the house and she mentally prepared herself for this evening once more.

Ulrich opened the door for his mother-in-law and allowed her to enter but first reminding her to keep her voice down as Kaiser may be asleep.

"Yumi, my precious daughter!" Ms. Ishiyama half-whispered in greeting to her daughter.

They hugged and Yumi took her mother upstairs to show her mom her grandson.

Ulrich watched them go upstairs and then sat down on the sofa deciding that he deserved a rest after Yumi's mom lecture him that Krystal and Kaiser should be baptised in Japan.

He and Yumi had already discussed this long and hard and Yumi was the one who had made the final decision. She wanted them to follow on the German line of the family, the more respectable line, she thought.

Of course, Ulrich was glad of this decision but any decision would have suited him, as long as Yumi was happy, so was he.

His parents couldn't have been more proud that their grandchildren were being baptised in German tradition.

Ulrich laughed slightly to himself as he thought of the times when he knew his Mother and Father wanted more from him, the times when they weren't proud of him, but now they told him over and over again how proud they were of him.

Of course when they said that they were proud of him, Yumi's name always followed afterwards but Ulrich wouldn't have it any other way.

Later that evening saw the gang along with Ulrich's parents and Yumi's Mother discussing the baptisms with awkwardness from the gang minus Ulrich and Yumi.

"Ok, Godparents" Yumi said.

A silence ran through the room and everybody's eyes were on Yumi. Ulrich, who knew Yumi hated to be in the spotlight by herself, put his arms around her to give her encouragement.

"Ok, Kaiser needs two god fathers and one godmother, and Krystal needs two godmothers and one godfather"

At this point Krystal entered the room and asked if it was time yet.

"Right on time honey" Ulrich sat and patted the space next to him on the floor for her to sit next to her parents while Ansel and Twinkle joined their parents.

"Ok I want my godmothers to be Aelita and Sam and my godfather to be Odd"

Ulrich looked over at Jeremie, but soon returned to looking at his daughter when she spoke again.

"I've chosen Aelita and Sam 'coz they're great and not old and are mommy and daddy's friends. And I've chosen Odd 'coz he makes me laugh even when he first met me, he did"

With that, she beckoned for Ansel and Twinkle to follow her upstairs.

A slight laugh went through the room at Krystal's actions.

"Ok and obviously Kaiser cannot choose for himself so as Krystal had already chose her godparents we decided that Odd and Jeremie should be godfathers and that Sam should be godmother"

They all nodded and thanked them.

The children re-joined the group half an hour later. Odd saw her and went off and played with her in the garden and soon Twinkle and Ansel played along too.

Ulrich preferred to watch them through the window rather than listen into the conversation that was happening around him.

He saw Krystal running towards him and into the house:

"Daddy, come outside and play with us, please!" Krystal begged him.

Ulrich got up and went outside with her.

"Ok, so what game are we going to play now then precious?" Odd asked her as he smiled at Ulrich.

"How about hide and seek and you and daddy are it" Krystal laughed.

"Ok, ok go and hide then we wont look, we'll give you a minute considering this garden is huge" Odd laughed and sat down on the grass.

Ulrich followed his action.

"Krystal is a lovely little girl" Odd muttered while fiddling with the grass.

Ulrich nodded his agreement.

"We've grew up a lot, haven't we?" Odd half-laughed, half-sighed.

"Yeah we have"

"Do you ever miss being a care-free teenager?" Odd asked him.

"No I don't 'coz I never really got to experience being a care free teenager"

Odd laughed at that comment

"True" "Don't you ever miss it though? Being at kadic; sneaking out late; getting caught by Jim; outsmarting Sissy and her gang; the adventures with X.a.n.a; flirting with girls. Don't you ever miss it?"

"Yeah I do and that's 'coz you're meant to but you can't forget all those things had bad sides too. Kadic stunk when people had forgotten to wash their bedding; always being tired from being out late; getting detentions and phone calls home when Jim caught you; Sissy's revenges; the stress of x.a.n.a with Aelita's anti-virus and materialisation; stress of whether knowing if a girl really like you or not."

Ulrich looked at his friend who seemed deep in thought.

"We'd better go and look for them" he said bringing Odd out of his thoughts.

Odd nodded and went to look for the children along with Ulrich helping.

Ulrich and Yumi crawled into bed at the late hour of one in the morning. The gang had left at half ten but their families stayed until half twelve. Yumi's mom was staying in the spare bedroom at their house so she never could leave but Ulrich's parents kept on talking about several issues and then memories and then repeat themselves but they, fortunately, realised the time and left.

Yumi watched Ulrich intently as he was thinking. She couldn't tell what he was thinking about but she knew he was confused because of the look on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" Yumi asked cuddling into his muscular form.

"Odd" he simply replied wrapping an arm around her.

"Why?" she asked bewildered.

"He spoke to me today about how he misses Kadic and when we were teenagers"

"Sam mentioned that he was thinking more and more about his past"

"I think he misses it too much" he voiced his concern.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think he's enjoying what he's got; a wife; children; a job; etc."

"Oh"

Ulrich could tell that Yumi didn't understand why Ulrich was so worried about this but she wouldn't. She hadn't had the case of Mr. Jackson; he was so wrapped up in his teenage days that he completely ignored his current life that he lost his wife and his children. The case, despite Ulrich's best efforts to help him, had ended badly. Mr. Jackson had come crashing back down to what was happening around him and he couldn't put his life back together so he took it by jumping off the mall's roof.

"What are you going to do?" Yumi asked after a couple of minute's silence.

"I dunno, I guess I can only watch and see if it stops" Ulrich sighed.

Yumi looked at him confused and when he told her about the case that he was thinking of earlier she completely understood.

"He should be alright" Yumi said but still thinking herself of what she had just learned.

Ulrich nodded half-heartily but decided to keep a close eye on his friend.

He knew that due to X.a.n.a, the five of them had not had a great teenage life but it was over and they all had moved on. X.a.n.a had helped them become a lot stronger, not only physically but mentally too. In a sick twisted way, they owed a lot of thanks to their former enemy for helping them become so close to one another, and making them become stronger. Odd, though in many ways had stayed a foolish typical teenage boy through those years of fighting the evil computer, but all of them had had to grow up during X.a.n.a's final days and their near death experiences