She was here.
Jeremy watched, dumbly, as the scanners opened to reveal Aelita. She was lying on her side and curled in a fetal position.
She was finally here.
She lifted her head and slowly pushed herself up. Turning a smile that was unfairly cute on him, Aelita attempted to rise to her feet. Her inexperienced muscles shook and collapsed beneath her however, and she fell with a small gasp.
Jeremy walked toward her in a trance. Carefully, he kneeled down and offered her the hand. He wondered how he would support her when he didn't even feel like he could support himself—his head was spinning dizzily, overwhelmed by the prospect of her physical presence.
But he was fine. Her hand felt soft, he thought absentmindedly as they stood in unison. She stumbled and fell against him.
"Sorry." The sheepish word was muttered, muffled, into his turtleneck.
Jeremy looked down at the girl in his arms—the girl he stayed up all night to talk to, the girl he'd worked so hard to bring here—and laughed. It was a clear, obvious sound of sheer joy. In the background he registered Jim's quiet whistle and the others' grins, but he didn't care.
He leaned closer to Aelita so that his lip were near Aelita's ear and whispered softly, "Welcome to Earth."