A/N: Thank you to Moonlitxangel for beta reading and thank you to all who have reviewed.

Commando Wolf: It was only a 2,100 word story and it just flowed I guess. Anyway I'm glad I still have some insight into your thoughts and am glad you liked the story. I hope you understand that in lieu of reviews, finding your story worth making my own expansions should tell you how much I'm enjoying it.

Kadic City Hospital, Emergency department waiting room, Tuesday 8:55 PM: Jeremy, Aelita and Sissi all stood up as principal Delmas and a man in a white lab coat entered. Yumi and Ulrich watched him intently from their position near the center of the room. The man in the lab coat made sure to make eye contact with each student as he briefed them. "About your friend... He's surprisingly lucky, both that all of you were there to rescue him and to have received fairly mild injuries. We know he lost consciousness but there are no apparent signs of concussion or any other type of brain injury, nor so we see any evidence of spinal injury." The last section was directed at Jeremy who looked away meekly before recovering. "Though with a high fall it was a good thing to think of. The bad news however, is that both of Odd's legs are broken and he needs surgery to realign the bones in his leg. We expect that he'll be taken up for that procedure in a few hours and in the meantime he's resting as comfortably as we can make him in a private room."

Odd looked around the small, bland hospital room he had been wheeled into and sighed, thinking how much better it would be if the room had a gaming system to occupy his mind while he waited. With nothing else to do he considered his fate. He had survived his jump, thanks to Sissi and the rest of his friends, or at least that's what the nurse told him when he'd asked earlier. He wasn't really certain what had happened. There was the thrilling ride up and over ramp he'd made followed by the breathtaking freefall to the river below. Then there was the immense pain as he hit the water and his legs scrunched up to absorb the blow. Cold wet blackness followed by blurs and indistinct voices on land. Shouting and blaring noises dominated his fragmented memory until he'd really woken up at the center of a flurry of activity.

He recalled Men and women in white coats rushing around him, poking and prodding at his body while ignoring the pain he experienced. Large words spoken in raised voices, mentions of finding his parents and confusion over what had happened to him. A technician wheeled a large machine to him and positioned it over his legs. Activity died to nothing as doctors and nurses retreated from the device for a few snaps from the machine. When that was over they moved him to another room and put his head into a large donut shaped machine and admonished him to remain still. A smile cracked his lips as the absurdity of that command finally registered, he was in a neck brace and couldn't have moved if he'd wanted to. After that it was all over and they had given him real pain medication before bringing him here and leaving him alone while they planned out their next actions to fix him.

The notion made him scoff. He wouldn't have needed fixing if his friends hadn't interfered. He would have been free of this world and it's endless boring work. His friends, the very ones who had rushed to save him would be free of the trouble he was. No more tutoring him and worrying if he'd pass the next test. No more wondering if he'd pull a prank that got everyone in trouble and Ulrich pulled from Kadic. Why he was still here made no sense.

Or did it? Perhaps they weren't done punishing him, perhaps they wanted him to suffer longer. Wanted to watch him struggle with assignments to tedious to qualify as anything but torture. Wanted to force him to endure long lectures while longing to fight monsters in the world's greatest video game. Enjoyed seeing him sweat as he crammed for a test on Yumi's painful glare, knowing just how much punishment she could dish out for a low score.

But even to his slightly drug addled mind that explanation didn't make sense. They had never enjoyed anyone else's pain, not even Sissi's. What's more, Lyoko warriors didn't give up on one another and maybe they weren't giving up on him. Maybe they realized what a mistake they were making and wanted to correct it. Maybe things were going to be different now that he'd shown them all how far they'd pushed him. But he wouldn't know that answer until his first visit, whenever that was. He hopped it would come before the surgery, however much he liked surprises he wanted the answer so it wouldn't eat at him in his lonely room.

Yumi's face brightened at the mention of no spinal or brain injuries but then she paled as she considered Odd living with both his legs broken. She knew, or rather assumed, that life was going to be very difficult for him. But it also offered the possibility that she could repay her debt to him by helping him out. He would likely need a lot of things done for him after all.

Jeremy and Aelita nodded their understanding of Odd's condition and felt the wave of relief that came from knowing that Odd was out of the worst danger. In the absence of all that worry, Jeremy began to try and figure out a way to make life easier for Odd as he recovered. One of his first thoughts was to create a clone program, a specter that could serve as Odd's assistant. But passing off a new student would be a problem. Using the supercomputer scanners to just fuse the bone...

Aelita looked over at Jeremy, tearing her attention away from the doctor as a result of Sissi's nudge and the roll of her head in Jeremy's direction. The faraway, thoughtful look had only one or two possible meanings and under other circumstances it might have amused her enough to draw a giggle. But she knew they couldn't just fix Odd's problems with the supercomputer though she understood Jeremy's desire to do just that. She nudged Jeremy and noted his confusion before his attention refocused on the current situation. Filling the void of her former sadness was hope that they could all pull together to help Odd and it would finally heal the rifts in her family.

Sissi breathed an audible sigh of relief at hearing the good news and then inwardly grimaced at what that would mean. Odd would suddenly be popular with the girls, his two legs entombed in a cast drawing out all the sympathy on campus. Of course, there were ways she could use that to her advantage. But the strangest plan she had was to work with Odd's friends to help him out and really become one of them.

Ulrich almost shouted as the anxiety and fear evaporated in the face of the doctors words. It might not be the easiest road to take but it would be worth it to have Odd back. He smiled and considered allowing Odd to stay up all night playing video games when he finally made it back to Kadic. A few sleepless nights would be a small price to pay to have his best friend back. Turning towards Yumi he just barely managed to avoid giving her a hug, forcing himself to save that for when it could be done more privately.

"After surgery, " the doctor continued in the same professional tone he had started the conversation with. "We'll keep him for the day and should, assuming there are no complications, be releasing him in the evening." With that the doctor turned crisply towards the door, intending to leave the group of relieved students to the care of their principal.

"Doctor? Umm... can we see Odd now?"

He turned back around to face the feminine voice that had addressed him and belatedly realized that he hadn't introduced himself to the students, only the principal. "Doctor Greene," he answered, "and I don't have a problem with that however it's up to the principal and if he does allow it I have to ask that only one person go at a time, that you be quiet and respectful of the other patients and also that you realize he may be groggy from the pain medication." With that he turned and walked out the door, standing just outside in case the man let one of the five students to see their friend before his surgery.

All eyes turned on Mr. Delmas and he hesitated in making a decision. The five some of Jeremy, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd had been nigh inseparable over the years and there was something different about the entire group. He looked to Aelita and decided that she, as Odd's cousin, should be allowed to go and see him tonight. Depending on how long that took and how long the hospital needed to prep the boy for surgery the others might just have to wait until tomorrow. Turning towards Aelita he said "I can't deny family so you can go see Odd tonight. We'll see after that about the rest of you."

Yumi noticed that Aelita's face flashed in fear for just a moment before she managed to force the emotion down. She could tell from the way Jeremy tensed then relaxed that he felt the same thing. It took all of 5 seconds to realize why, if Mr. Delmas mentioned that little fact to Odd's parents they would deny Aelita's existence and if he decided to investigate... "Mr. Delmas?"

Aelita looked at Yumi when she heard her voice and noted the almost pleading look, answering with a confused though grateful expression. Understanding blossomed as she listened to Yumi ask to be the first one to see Odd. When she was finished, the black haired girl looked questioningly at Aelita who nodded yes. Turning to the principal she said, "Yumi can go in my place."

The principal looked between the two girls with the confusion evident on his face. Ulrich decided to shed some light on the situation saying, "sir, Yumi and Odd have been fighting lately and I think she wants to apologize."

Aelita and Jeremy nodded yes when the principal turned a questioning gaze on Aelita who answered with "she needs to do this more than I need to see my cousin right now." She turned to Jeremy and noted his approval though there was still worry on his face. "Besides, I'm sure there'll be enough time for me go next."

The principal nodded and motioned Yumi to go with the doctor to Odd's room. After watching Yumi leave he turned back to the rest and asked what happened in a neutral voice. The doctor had wondered if Jeremy's account of what happened was accurate since he wasn't sure falling off of a river crossing bridge was high enough to cause the injuries Odd sustained and Jeremy wasn't, by his own admission, actually able to see what happened.

Sissi's eyes swept briefly around the room and, seeing as no one was going to be able to answer since they hadn't seen what happened answered with "Odd didn't come to their study session and they ignored it at first but Ulrich got worried and convinced them to go look for him. Jeremy used his computer to hack into the phone company and get Odd's location from the GPS. in his phone."

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably under the principals we will be discussing this later glare. Aelita rubbed her arm lightly against his and pushed her hand into his as a show of support. Sissi noticed and quickly added, "I'm sure he doesn't..." She trailed off as her father looked at her then added "it was an emergency, it may have helped me save Odd's life." Her expression brightened as her father's look of disapproval began to show some pride directed at his daughter.

"Anyway," she continued quickly, "he told Aelita and I that Odd was at the abandoned factory and we ran there. Aelita outran me there but she went into the factory while I was on the bridge and..." Sissi paused and took a breath, feeling all eyes on her and seeing sympathy from Jeremy. After a few seconds she continued "I saw Odd falling from the roof of the building. I yelled for help and selflessly dove into the water to get him back to shore before he drowned. Aelita came after me then Yumi and Ulrich helped pull all of us back unto shore where Jeremy showed up and began CPR. Aelita called the ambulance with Jeremy's phone and here we are."

Mr. Delmas frowned as he considered her explanation. Jeremy hacking into a utility didn't sit right with him. But more importantly he wanted to know what Odd was doing anywhere near the old factory. The place had been abandoned for many years and it was, he had always figured, a deathtrap waiting to happen. That Odd had been lucky enough to survive was one thing. The fearful scowl Jeremy, Aelita and Ulrich flashed at his daughter when she mentioned the factory suggested something, though exactly what was a mystery he needed to solve. If they were all going to that old place for some reason... "Why was Odd at the factory?" He let the concern and disappointment color his voice.

Each member of the group looked at one another as they struggled to come up with an answer. Each knew they couldn't tell the truth as they would risk revealing Aelita's secret. Sissi wondered why they were being so uncooperative given their usual willingness to help out. Then she recalled a piece of gossip from Nicholas and Herve regarding Odd and Aelita kissing at the factory. Perhaps they used the place as a hangout and didn't want to lose it. She looked towards the ground and considered whether to tell her father about that. One the one hand it was dangerous and had nearly taken Odd's life already. But one the other she could appreciate the value their little hideaway had to them.

Yumi entered Odd's temporary room and he turned lazily towards the sound of footsteps approaching. His eyes widened slightly and his heart rate increased as indicated by the monitor he was hooked to. She forced herself to continue despite knowing that the doctor seemed a bit puzzled by the reaction and walked to his bedside. Forcing a smile to her lips and regretting it had to be forced she placed her hand gently on Odd's arm. "You really scared all of us." Her voice sounded a bit broken and she felt the water waiting in the corner of her eye for an opportunity to fall. Steadying herself with a breath she looked him in the eye, "I really thought I'd lost you, that we all lost you and..."

Odd looked up at Yumi, hearing the sadness and pain in her voice. Despite the drugs the doctors had given him, he wasn't so lightheaded as to not recognize it. His fear had faded the instant her cool fingers met his arm, the contact gentle and reassuring. Had it not been for that he might not have believed what he was hearing. She smiled down at him again, this one seeming more real, and added thank you to her unfinished sentence. As she started to turn away he picked up his hand and grasped at hers, causing her to face him once again.

Yumi tried to smile briefly before her lips pressed into a thin line. "The others want to see you before your surgery..." Taking a step closer she leaned into the bed to bring her face closer to his. She shook her head and couldn't prevent the tear from falling. Of all the many things she wanted to tell him and despite, or perhaps because of, the emotions she felt nothing was coming now. Settling for the most honest thing she could think of she said "I'm sorry you had to do this to make me see... I'm sorry I couldn't forgive you before and... I'm glad you pushed me and Ulrich together." Blinking back more tears she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "You'll be fine, I'll make sure of it."

Odd smiled as he considered the lingering sensation of Yumi's lips on his cheek. "Yumi?"

"Yeah?"

"You're welcome." She smiled and he couldn't help but feel a little better as he basked under the warm, genuine smile she favored him with. He watched as a nurse escorted Yumi away and almost laughed, wondering how glad he should be that Ulrich wasn't here to see that. That feeling soon faded to guilt as he realized just what the other's had to be feeling about his attempted suicide. But on some level he was happy to see that, glad that what he did had given them some perspective on how they had been treating him lately. And he was glad that it seemed they were no longer interesting in punishing him.

As Yumi walked along in the hall she couldn't help but wonder if that had really been enough of a conversation. She had said nothing close to what it felt like she should have in terms of volume yet somehow it seemed to be enough. Pondering how that could be and almost swimming in the feeling of relief that she would get a second chance she absently walked by hall she was supposed to turn down. A call from the nurse that was escorting her brought her back to reality and she hurriedly back-tracked then took the correct turn.

Sissi looked around and decided to voice the fear she could guess they all held. "I think he wanted his stunt to kill him."

"What!" Her father demanded sounding incredulous. Odd had never shown any signs of being suicidal before now. A glance around the room showed that each teenager present was struggling to not show how much they thought that was true which only confirmed his daughter's assessment of the situation. "Why would he try something like that?"

Ulrich answered, or tried to, "he... Well um..."

"He wasn't having any fun with us" Aelita cut in, obviously hoping to take the attention off of him.

"That's no reason to try and kill himself." Mr. Delmas responded with the shock still clear in his voice. After a moment's thought he asked, "what about the fight with Yumi." Judging by the reactions he guessed he had hit the mark. He looked at Aelita for a moment.

Jeremy pulled his thoughts together and considered how he could spin this to avoid the supercomputer and to prevent Odd from getting into serious trouble. Unfortunately anything that involved something that could sound like the truth also made Odd sound like he was a criminal. Which wasn't necessarily untrue, not that it mattered to anyone here save Mr. Delmas. He longed for the days when trouble like this could be solved by a program or a deactivated tower followed by a return to the past. Just as quickly he dismissed the idea, Odd's life was no longer in danger and though he might get into some trouble it could be made manageable. If he could come up with a decent story.

Ulrich, grateful that the principal wasn't staring at him, looked down at the floor for the countless time. Like Jeremy and Aelita, at least he assumed, he was struggling to come up with something that wouldn't paint Odd as a criminal who needed to be expelled. But it was easy enough to see that if his best friends could push Odd out of the circle then Mr. Delmas might see that he had no choice but to do that.

Sissi's disbelieving eyes scanned the faces of the people she had thought were Odd's best friends. "What is wrong with all of you! Odd tried to kill himself and rather tell my father why so he can help him you stay silent! Do you want him to try again? Do you want to see him try until he succeeds?" She saw Jeremy, Aelita and Ulrich wince at each question. She recognized the looks they flashed at her as some sort of you don't understand glance.

Mr. Delmas spoke in a fatherly tone, conveying authority and a measure of acceptance. "Sissi is right, whatever happened you can tell me. Part of my job is to help and I can't do that if you won't tell me what's wrong." There was almost a note of pleading in his voice as he finished speaking. Disappointment radiated from his presence as time ticked by with nothing further said and only the uncomfortable shuffling of teenagers created any sort of sound.

Yumi walked into the room with the nurse that had escorted her and felt the cold, uncomfortable silence along with all eyes turning to her. Knowing that nothing had happened to Odd since she was just there she assumed something had not gone well in the waiting room. The smile that had been slowly growing as she considered that she could make amends with Odd faded in an instant as she saw the principal look at her expectantly.

Aelita cast an apologetic look at Yumi as she walked towards the doorway and the nurse who was starting to turn away. Not wanting to call attention to her exit but at the same time knowing that she needed the nurse's guidance since she had not been told the room number she fearfully squeaked out, "Nurse?" She tensed as all eyes fell unto her but forced herself to keep walking to the door.

"Wait." All attention turned to Mr. Delmas. "Until someone explains what is going on no one is leaving this room."

Surprisingly it was Jeremy's protest that sounded loudest amongst the chorus of voices. But with everyone yelling all at once it was still impossible to hear what Jeremy said. After a moment of arguing the nurse who had escorted Yumi back lost her patience and shouted. Her authoritative voice indeed cut through the clutter and after making it clear that she wouldn't tolerate any more fighting she stood with her hands folded across her chest while tapping her feet impatiently. She did have better things to do than babysit teenagers and a school principal after all.

Jeremy sighed and made an executive decision. "I'll explain what happened if you let Aelita go see Odd." It was quite clear that he had reservations about it and he glanced apologetically at the entire group.

Aelita glared at Jeremy for a split second before realizing that they still had the return to the past card to play if things went seriously wrong. The thought gave her pause, hadn't they already gone seriously wrong? But they had all been in worse situations and Jeremy seemed to have a plan. Leaving things to him, she accepted his offer and nodded her ascent while softening her expression.

Yumi and Ulrich Looked at both Jeremy and Aelita before finally acquiescing to Jeremy's suggestion. Neither really wanted to talk about what had happened that day much less twist it into something else for the principal. But they didn't seem to have much choice as their protest of you can't do that to Aelita seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Each of their consciences though, seemed willing to more fully accept Jeremy's plan and they both took solace in that.

Mr. Delmas watched Jeremy fidget nervously with his hands for a few moments as Aelita walked away with the nurse. As he looked up to Mr. Delmas he regretted making the offer to tell the man what had happened. But he didn't have a choice now and his own conscience seemed to be telling him that this was best even as logic told him that this could only end one way: badly. Deciding to just get it over with quickly, he sucked in a deep breath and started off, saying "Odd decided that Ulrich and Yumi needed a dramatic push to get their love out into the open. He lured them both to the factory and..."

Yumi saw Jeremy's discomfort with what he was about to say and moved until she was standing directly behind him. Hoping that she would reassure him she gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. Ulrich walked to stand beside Yumi and took her hand, hiding the gesture behind Jeremy's back.

Reassured that this was ok with both Yumi and Ulrich Jeremy continued though his anxiety seemed to make his voice smaller than normal. "He got them to come to the factory one at a time and drugged them both. Then he locked them in one of the factory's rooms and..." Jeremy hesitated as he considered how to rephrase what had really happened. Yumi's whispered "go on" forced him to continue even though he was unsure of the correctness of his analogy. "Odd expected them to have sex before he would release them."

Mr. Delmas recoiled visibly as the shock of that revelation hit hard. Anger seemed to harden the man's face as outrage coursed through him. Yumi and Ulrich stepped around Jeremy to put themselves protectively in front of the boy. Sissi watched with abject disbelief as she considered the possibility that what she had been unable to finish just over a week ago could have really given her Ulrich.

"We didn't have sex." Yumi declared forcefully. "Jeremy and Aelita intervened before that could happen." Yumi's angered expression didn't change despite the fact that she briefly felt funny about calling the pair's marathon and life saving programming session an intervention. "They helped us recover from the effect of the drugs and made us realize that neither of us could take advantage of the other that way." She turned her head back to steal a glance at Jeremy. "But they did take advantage of our shocked state after the drugs wore off to get us talking and now." Yumi blushed, "we're a couple."

Sissi looked wide eyed at the couple before turning away, feeling fresh remorse over her failed attempt to seduce Ulrich and new shame over thinking that Ulrich would have handled Yumi any differently than he had her. She flashed a look at Jeremy that she hoped he would understand as gratitude, her emotions were a little to jumbled to be absolutely certain. But she really was grateful that both he and Aelita had been able to intervene, just as Yumi felt she didn't deserve being gawked at while giving up on Ulrich, neither Yumi nor Ulrich deserved to have to deal with what Odd had wanted to force.

Mr. Delmas stared at the threesome standing directly in front of him as he gauged their sincerity and truthfulness. Ultimately, he decided that the three teenagers were telling the truth. But that didn't ease the trouble in his mind. It was great that neither Yumi nor Ulrich would have to deal with the trauma that would have come from what was essentially rape. But at the same time there was Odd, for whom he now had grounds for an immediate expulsion and quite possibly criminal charges as well.

Yet even the two teens he had assaulted seemed intent on forgiving the boy. Of course the possibility of him dying probably affected their emotional state but as much as that was the case, it didn't seem to be the case here. He was quite certain they were all willing to forgive and forget. But the real question was could he? He looked down at his daughter and contemplated having someone who would be willing to mistreat his very best friends that way living in the same building as her. The answer was immediately obvious.

Aelita walked into the room that Odd was occupying and despite her best efforts the first thing she noticed was his legs. They were covered in a blanket and still didn't quite look right. As her gaze traveled up his body she noticed the IV tubes that were slowly dripping substances through his arm and directly into his bloodstream. His face looked somewhat peaceful and she gave silent thanks she didn't have to see him in agony. She wasn't sure she could handle it.

Odd noted her approach with a pleasantly surprised expression. He could see that like Yumi she was on the verge of crying. He figured that unlike Yumi she would cry openly. Of all the times he'd wanted her to cry on his shoulder he didn't want that this time. She would be crying over him, what he had done to himself and over the still too fresh memories of her father's sacrifice. As much as it had seemed to be irrelevant when he had jumped, he was starting to see how much impact his death would have and he wasn't liking it at all.

Aelita didn't say a single word as she made her way towards Odd's bed. She forced herself to stop staring at his injured legs and watch his face as she walked steadily closer. Rage boiled inside her as she considered what he'd put everyone, including himself, through. When she stopped at his bedside she looked into his eyes and yelled "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!" The release of the anger drained her but left the fear and sorrow intact. While Odd remained stunned for just a moment she buried her head into his shoulder and cried. Through her sobs she forced out, "don't you ever scare me like that again."

Odd slowly maneuvered his arm until he was able to put it around Aelita's neck in an effort to console and comfort her. Truth was, he had been startled by the first outburst and now found himself confused by the girl's apparent mood swing. The shout had left no question of her anger yet now she was lost in despair. "Shhhh." Aelita turned her head slightly towards him. "I'm sorry... I thought."

"You thought it was for the best." Aelita finished his sentence while almost choking on the words. "We were wrong."

Odd tilted his head and the quizzical expression betrayed his lack of understanding. Through actions and sometimes words it had been made clear how little he mattered, how much of a burden he was and how unwanted his presence was. "How?"

"We let ourselves forget how much we loved you." Shame colored Aelita's voice. "We..." Aelita shook her head as she struggled for words. After a few moments of silence she continued and some of the anger returned. "What you did was reckless and stupid and dangerous and..." The anger collapsed, leaving shame and sadness to occupy her voice alone. "Apparently necessary. We should have all been more understanding."

"Aelita..." Odd stopped, uncertain what to say.

"We were all wrong." Aelita supplied into Odd's silence.

"It wasn't just you guys... I just knew what had to happen and I didn't see any other way and..."

"We weren't willing to help your plan." Aelita supplied regretfully. "I was so focused on what Ulrich had done wrong and how much it had hurt Yumi that I..." She lifted her head off of Odd's shoulder. "I didn't help." She turned away from him. "I didn't even let Jeremy try to help... I."

"Aelita?" Odd watched as she turned around to face him again and he spoke quickly to prevent her from heaping any more blame on herself. "You're here now, and so, I presume, is the rest of our group. That's what matters. We can get through this together."

Aelita's face brightened, "You mean that? You'll forgive us for making you feel like you didn't deserve to live?"

Odd offered a slightly lopsided smile, "as long as you'll forgive me for drugging and nearly killing Yumi and Ulrich."

"Deal." Aelita answered happily. Quickly she leaned over Odd's bed and lightly kissed his cheek before leaving. As she made the walk back to the waiting room she couldn't help but feel lighter, as though a huge weight was off of her shoulders. Her family could be healed and she'd help repair the damage done. She yawned, the energy of her happiness fading as the evening and rapid changes in mood took their toll on her body. She looked forward to bed, hopefully snuggled in with Jeremy, and the new day of healing that tomorrow would bring.

Odd looked at the doorway and the empty hallway beyond with a sense of longing. He wanted Aelita back, wanted her head pressed into his shoulder and her tears wetting his hospital gown. He wanted Yumi back, and wanted to see Ulrich and Jeremy too. But as much as he wanted to see his friends all together again he knew that wasn't going to happen tonight. Still, Yumi and Aelita's visits helped reassure him that things would get better. Even if it would still be a while before he was going to be up and around at least he wouldn't be alone during his recovery.