Calvin woke up lying on the floor. He had passed out drunk along with Sam due to his little fiasco with drinking too much wine. Kiwi Jr. was licking his face trying to get a response out of him.

"Get off of me, you stupid mutt!" Calvin shouted. He then got up and walked around. "Ugh. My head…"

Upstairs, Rumiko and Dennis came out and began talking about the unmentionable night they had.

"That was great." Rumiko said. "Now let's never do it again."

"Agreed." Dennis said "Oh, hi Calvin."

"Hey guys." He said drowsily. "What did you guys do?"

"Are you feeling alright?" Rumiko said

"I just woke up from being inebriated. How do you…? Oh God." He said feeling his stomach turn and covering his mouth.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." Dennis said grabbing a wastebasket. "Here, use this, not my carpet."

Calvin then grabbed the wastebasket and threw up in it.

"So what did you do?" He said again.

"Oh, nothing much." Rumiko said "We went into Dennis's room, we talked, just your average teenage stuff…"

"You two had sex didn't you?" Calvin asked

"No." Dennis said nervously "No. No. No. How do you know?"

"I'm not stupid, Dennis."

"Please don't tell Mom and Ulrich." Rumiko pleaded "Please Calvin?"

"Was he protected?" Calvin asked

"If you mean 'Was I using protection?', then yes." Dennis said

"Will you tell them I got drunk?"

"No." Rumiko said

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Good, now let's…"

"Dennis!" William Jr. shouted as he ran down the stairs holding Rufus in his hands. "I thought I told you to keep your stupid rat out of my room!"

"But I was." Dennis said "I don't know how he… AMI!"

Ami then came towards them.

"I felt sorry for him." She said "Animals, especially endangered ones, don't belong in cages."

"Next time ask me before you let him out!" Dennis said through gritted teeth.

"Okay." Ami said timidly as she cleaned out her stuff.

In a short time, everyone's parents arrived to pick them up and take them home. The rest of October flew by quickly. As with November and half of December. On the last day of school before Christmas vacation, Yumi left work early due to a blizzard and headed to her favorite café near downtown. She was wearing a heavy coat which, since she was prone to cold weather, she didn't take off. When she sat down, a woman with a long overcoat and pink hair tucked in a beret sat down across from her.

"You look familiar." Yumi said "Have we met?"

"Doubt it." The woman said "Haven't been in France for over a year. If we did, it would have been long ago."

"Did you ever go to Kadic Academy?"

"Most of my childhood was a real blur." She said "But I only vaguely recall a school by the name of Kadic."

"Oh. Well tell Jeremie I said 'Hi'." Yumi said as she got up.

"I'll make sure he… Darn it." She said realizing her mistake.

"Aelita." Yumi said smiling

"Yumi."

They then squealed with joy and hugged one another.

"I can't believe it!" Yumi said "What brings you back?"

"Well, I happened to be touring France. So I thought this would be an excellent time to see my beloved husband and daughter again for the holidays."

"You know, my son Calvin's been begging us to spend Christmas with you guys. But I didn't think it would be possible."

"Oh, you guys can come over if you want; the more the merrier. Besides, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Yumi said

"Oh, by the way, Antea, my daughter, doesn't know I'm coming." Aelita said "So if you do come over and she hasn't found out yet, don't say anything, I want to surprise her."

"Don't worry, I won't." She said. "Well, I'd better get going. I'll see you in a couple days."

"Okay then, bye." She said. "Nice seeing you again."

Yumi then got home to find her children were in the den watching TV.

"Why are you home so early?" She asked

"Blizzard." Rumiko asked "School got cancelled after lunch."

"Guess what guys." Yumi said "We're spending Christmas with the Belpois' this year."

"All right!" Calvin said jumping in the air. Everyone then turned around and stared at him.

"Sorry." He said embarrassed. "Just got carried away."

"What's that, Yumes?" Ulrich said walking into the den.

"We're going to Jeremie and Aelita's for Christmas." She said. "Which reminds me, Calvin, you got your present for Antea?"

"Right here." He said pulling out a small box with a ribbon around it.

"Aww. That's so cute." Ami said "Calvin got a present for his sweetheart."

"Shut up, twerp." Calvin said

"Calvin!" Yumi and Rumiko shouted.

"Sorry." He said. "So when do we leave?"

"Christmas Eve." Yumi said.

"Are Grandma Akiko and Grandpa Takeo coming?" Ami asked

"I don't think so." Yumi said

"What about Aunt Milly and Uncle Hiroki?" Calvin asked

"Oh, they're coming." Yumi said. "That I know for sure."

"Can I bring Dennis?" Rumiko asked.

"Sure. If he wants to go." Yumi said. "And Calvin, you can bring Sam if you want."

"Okay then." Calvin said.

And with that, they began to make preparations for the trip, which was but two days away.

My answers to John.

1: Xavier's being forced against his will to help with XANA's master plot. He figured if he gave the binder to his smartest student, which contained fragments of XANA's plan, he would be able to stop the plan and free him. Unfortunately, Calvin can't read the language the notes were written in. Also, I do agree the pace could have been a bit better. I plan on revising once the story is finished.

2: The book was marketed as a fiction novel, (I guess I should have explained that). Therefore nobody still knows that Lyoko was real, and they tried to keep that secret from their children. That's why they rarely saw each other.

3: Thaddeus is Ulrich's great-grandfather, and don't worry, I'll be telling a lot about him.

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