Hey, guys! It's been a while since I've posted. School/work has really taken its toll. But I managed to work this out in my free time. Let me know what you think!

Ch. 6- 'S.O.S'

"Ul-rich, dear!" purred the raven-haired girl behind the desk.

Ulrich stood there, dumbfounded. He had never expected to see Sissi, especially here of all places. She looked almost out of place in a professional world. She was wearing a maroon-colored skirt that looked like it had been pulled up a little too high, and a pink top that looked like it had been pushed too low. In fact, the more Ulrich noticed, the more he realized that she was pretty much dressed the same as she was in grade school, although with a few minor changes. But everything was mostly the same, all the way down to the yellow-colored hairband she used to keep her hair pulled back. However, she had forgone the leggings and pumps she usually wore. Instead, she was wearing some sheer hose and a pair of heels that matched her skirt color closely. It seemed very borderline professional like it just barely made the cut for what could be considered acceptable in a workplace. But her skirt was hiked a little high, and the shirt was very low, almost like she was trying to get a certain group of people to notice her.

But then something caught Ulrich's eye, he refocused on Sissi. He saw as she sat behind the desk, she had her legs crossed, and her fingers tapping on the surface in front of her impatiently, a frown on her face. It was then that Ulrich realized she was expecting something to happen.

"Uh- Hi…um, Sissi…" stammered Ulrich.

Sissi scowled then hissed, "I thought I've told you and those dorks to never call me Sissi while we're working!" Ulrich figured he, Nicholas, and Herb were those people who fell under 'you and those dorks'. It made sense, Ulrich didn't know many other people would still call her Sissi.

"Um…sorry- um, Elisabeth!" hemmed Ulrich, trying to recover. It took him a second to remember Sissi's real name. Although in school she hardly ever went by Elisabeth, preferring her peculiar nickname to her given name. But apparently, something had changed in the ten years that had passed.

Sissi gave a smirk, "That's better…" Ulrich rolled his eyes. Apparently not much else had changed, especially her personality.

"You know Ul-rich dear…" she said, drawing out the syllable at the front of his name like she always did, especially when they were younger. Ulrich felt like he was going to be sick, this was bringing back a lot of bad memories for both Ulrich's. "You could call me Sissi if you want to join me on Friday night for a drink?"

Without skipping a beat Ulrich replied, "Sure, Sissi…"

"Really?" she beamed.

"Sure, when you grow a brain and stop calling me Ul-rich dear…"

Ulrich felt a little satisfaction inside. Insulting Sissi on a daily basis was something that Ulrich remembered that he and Younger Ulrich's group of friends had down to a science when they were all in school. Although Ulrich couldn't remember most of his old set of friends; he knew that he and Yumi both were able to dish it back as much as Sissi was able to dole it out. Apparently, he still had it after all these years.

"Humph…" huffed Sissi, "You know you used to like it when I called you Ul-rich dear…" she said with some amount of venom in her voice.

"What?" asked Ulrich, "Look, I don't have time for this, I have a job to do," he said trying to put some distance between himself and Sissi.

Sissi sulked a little bit but let Ulrich walk away. He walked across the carpeted floor over to the frosted doors and tugged on the handles. The door rattled and wouldn't budge any matter if he pulled or pushed. It was then that he heard Sissi snickering behind him. Ulrich spun around and saw Sissi chuckling at him.

"What?" asked Ulrich

"You've obviously forgotten who's in charge up here," said Sissi, full of glee, "You forget, anyone who comes through here needs permission to do so."

"Permission?" inquired Ulrich, "What kind of permission?"

"Wow! You must've really hit your head hard!" said Sissi. Ulrich scowled, he knew he was supposed to be playing the role of Older Ulrich, but he wasn't doing such a good job of it at the moment. But thankfully Sissi was having too much fun to really notice.

"Every visitor to the Executive Offices must be admitted by the Receptionist," she informed Ulrich.

"Great," said Ulrich, getting a little impatient, "Can I talk with them then?"

"Oh, but Ul-rich dear, you are talking with them!" said Sissi, triumphantly.

"Oh, jeez…" said Ulrich, realizing what she was insinuating, "Look, Sissi, I have a job to do, can you just let me through?"

"Certainly!" she said, and she pushed a button on the desk. There was a buzzing sound and Ulrich heard the door vibrate slightly as the lock was disengaged. Ulrich reached for the handle, just as Sissi let go of the button. Ulrich tugged, but the lock had already re-engaged by the time he pulled, "Just as soon as you stop calling me Sissi!" she screeched.

Ulrich sighed and in the nicest voice he could muster under the circumstances he said, "Elisabeth, will you please open this door so I can do my job?"

"Hmm…" hummed Sissi, "Maybe…" she said in a sing-song voice.

"Maybe?" asked Ulrich, "What is there 'maybe' about this?"

"Depends on what you're willing to do for the Receptionist…" said Sissi, a slight glint in her eye.

There was a small electrical box to the right of the door that looked like it allowed people with keycards to swipe and enter without having to deal with the bratty Receptionist. But it seemed that Ulrich wasn't important enough to have received a keycard. He even checked his wallet and all of his pockets just to see if there was a card that looked even remotely like an access card. But it looked like he was just like everyone else who had to be approved entry before being able to proceed ahead. He knew that he had to get into this office soon because the big meeting should have just started and Ulrich didn't know how long it would last. His window of a potential grace period was closing fast, and he needed to act quickly. Ulrich's first thought was that he wasn't getting through the door unless he slipped through with another person or agreed to go for drinks with Sissi on Friday like she wanted. There seemed to be no other way to get through the door. But then he started to think that there had to be another way since there was no way Ulrich was catering to Sissi's demands. But there didn't seem to be anyone else coming that he could try to slip through with. And it wasn't like he was suddenly going to get a keycard, but he did think that it might be worth bringing up with William or whatever manager or authority figure he needed to in order to get one if he was going to be up here regularly. Then a thought popped into his head.

"I'm about to decide that I need to speak with the Receptionist's manager…for blackmailing and harassing other employees" threatened Ulrich, reaching the end of his patience. He pointed towards Sissi's wardrobe choice and she gasped and covered up herself like Ulrich had just seen her coming out of the shower. Ulrich sighed, he was getting tired of Sissi, and even having to refer to Sissi as 'The Receptionist' in such a third-person manner.

Sissi looked a little hurt, but then she looked defensive, "No, no! There's no need to do that!"

"Look, I'll let you through the door, just don't tell my supervisor!" said Sissi, quickly pressing the button.

She also quickly pulled up her blouse and pushed down her skirt to their normal places. Ulrich rolled his eyes. He was able to figure out quickly why she had made those changes to her wardrobe. There was a buzz and Ulrich pulled open the door. There was a small, rubber doorstop on the other side of the door, so Ulrich took it and kicked it under the open door to keep it from closing on him. He walked back to the elevator bank where he left his carts and began to wrestle with them to get them through the door. Sissi had returned to her work and was actively trying to ignore Ulrich's gaze which suited him just fine. Ulrich decided to keep this interaction in mind in case he ever had to come up here again.

Just like everyone else so far, even Sissi had her own issues that she was dealing with and trying more or less to not let it interfere with her professional career. Like Herb and his alcoholism, and Nicholas and his harassment charges. Then Ulrich thought about and his own tardiness and dating issues. Ulrich's mind flashed back to Nicholas' statement earlier that morning about them all being one big dysfunctional family. And the more Ulrich learned about those he worked with, the more and more it seemed true, despite the fact that he didn't want to openly admit it. Ulrich kind of felt bad now comparing Sissi's problems to his, and then even using it as leverage against her. He didn't know how he would feel if someone used his problems to leverage or even blackmail him. But the more he thought about it, the less sorry he felt; given that the whole reason she was acting the way that she had seemed purely because of him.

Ulrich thought that even after all these years that Sissi would have just given up on him. It was obvious that he didn't like her. He had never returned any affection for her despite her always giving it to him. But then that comment about how he used to like it when she called him 'Ul-rich dear' really bothered him. He didn't know what she was insinuating. It probably had to do with one of the gaps in his memory. Was she referencing the fact the perhaps he had dated her before? Ulrich didn't really want to entertain the notion that he ever would have gone out with Sissi even for a second. The thought itself was enough to make Ulrich feel a little queasy. Sissi was definitely not his type. But then Ulrich started to question what his type really was. It seemed like he was having difficulty nailing down what kind of girl was 'his type'. But if he had to guess, Sissi was the antithesis of what kind of girl he was into. She had the personality of a clingy octopus made of cacti, and it made her very off-putting.

Once Ulrich was on the other side of the frosted glass door, he kicked the doorstop out from under it and back to where he found it. The glass pane closed behind Ulrich, and he could hear the lock click back into place. Once he looked up and got a good look at the office space, Ulrich let out a small gasp. This had to have been the most lavishly decorated floor he had seen yet. The lobby outside was nothing compared to what was here. There was a sunken area in the middle of the floor where several large cubicles were located. If they could even be called that, they looked more like mini palaces. The desks were so much larger and much more ornate than any of the others Ulrich had seen thus far. And each of the cubicles was given so much room compared to the rest of the other workers at the company. If Ulrich had to guess, these cubicles might have been larger than his father's own office, if only just barely. And that wasn't even the beginning, the actual offices that surrounded the sunken area were absolutely massive. It almost didn't seem plausible given the fact that Ulrich thought that the building was rectangular all the way up.

Then he saw hanging on the wall a series of articles, pictures, and designs for the massive skyscraper. They were all lauding the company's president and the architects for planning and implementing their unique building design. Ulrich paused to read them, he didn't see anything different about this building compared to any of the others here in Paris. According to the articles, the lobby and top floor had the same dimensions, and so did most of the basements that the lobby sat on. However, going up from the atrium, each floor got progressively smaller until it reached the middle, right on the 15th floor, then it started expanding again. Then the brunette realized it, the whole building was shaped like a giant hourglass. Ulrich was surprised that he never noticed it before. But the curve was super gradual, so from a distance, the building still looked perfectly rectangular. That would explain why this floor looked so much bigger than the Marketing floor since his father's department sat just one floor above the middle. If Ulrich had to guess, each floor either gained or lost a few feet on each side compared to the floors above or below it. But over the entire building, it quickly added up to give it the progressive contour the whole way through. Ulrich was impressed, so much in fact that he didn't hear a series of footsteps and whispered voices coming up behind him.

"Hey! Are we going to get our mail?" shouted a voice behind Ulrich as he stood analyzing all the pictures on the wall. Ulrich snapped back to reality with a gasp. He had completely forgotten why he was there for a purpose and instead had got side-tracked.

"Um- yes! Sorry!" said Ulrich whirling around to see who was addressing him.

Ulrich gulped, he had an entire audience, and at the head of it was Winston Cardiff, the President of the company. Ulrich recognized him from the statue downstairs in the lobby. There was Mr. Cardiff, and his two sons, Ulrich also recognized them from the news the other day. They were holding their own conversation behind their father's back, not really paying attention to what was going on. Both of them were dressed really similarly to each other. In fact, it was making it really hard for Ulrich to tell the two apart. But then he remembered from the news report that Sean usually wore black while his brother, Seth, wore mostly red. Once he had that straight he was able to tell that Sean was wearing a stylish white button-down shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. He also had a black tie and some dark slacks and looked rather professional.

Seth was equally dressed in a white shirt and tie and his sleeves were sloppily rolled up. But instead his tie was red, and his slacks were more of a brownish shade, which seemed to put off a different vibe than his brother. Their blonde, flyaway hair looked like they had at least attempted to comb it, but it still had a great deal of mess to it. They both looked youthful and full of energy, and they were both laughing about something that one of them had said. Ulrich also noticed that despite the professional look, both of them were wearing split-toed running shoes, the kind that Ulrich expected for serious running enthusiasts. They seemed really off-putting to the rest of their outfit since Ulrich recalled that they were both Executive Officers in the company. The brunette expected maybe more of a sense of professionalism from both of them, but he realized they were still young adults. They looked about the same age as Ulrich, if maybe just a tad older, so goofing off and acting young just came with the part. He was sure if anyone had something to say about concerning the matter, it would probably have been their father.

Speaking of the devil, Mr. Cardiff was currently giving Ulrich a steely glare as he stood in front of the young brunette. The senior Cardiff was dressed rather sharply in a suit coat with a white shirt and subtly patterned tie. The coat was done up and a small chain was strung through one of the many buttons. Ulrich was able to tell what was on one of the ends of the chain since the gentleman had paused to remove it from his pocket. It was a small pocket watch, and he had it open so he could observe the face of the timepiece. Mr. Cardiff was checking the time while with his other hand, he was massaging his graying temples. The older gentleman was surrounded by other business-looking professionals all thronging for his attention.

Mr. Cardiff seemed really tired and worn down from all people who were vying for his time. Most of them Ulrich recognized as the occupants of the cubicles he had just witnessed. But then there were a few people he didn't recognize. There was an older woman standing next to Mr. Cardiff, who was answering most of the thronging crowd. Ulrich figured she was Mr. Cardiff's assistant or secretary. And then there was another, younger girl, probably even younger than Ulrich was also tagging along with the group who stood in the back, almost disappearing from view. Her hair was a reddish-brown color, and she had pulled her bangs across one of her eyes, shielding it from view. The girl spent a lot of time brushing more and more of her hair in front of her eyes, which seemed weird to Ulrich. The red-haired woman seemed to be tagging along with Sean and Seth, but only more like a shadow than an actual employee. Every now and then she would shoot a quick glance at Sean and Seth but quickly turn away before the twins noticed. Ulrich observed that the girl spent a lot of time staring at Seth in particular, but Seth didn't even notice her one bit.

Ulrich's attention was brought back to the situation at hand when Mr. Cardiff cleared his throat loudly but firmly. It looked like the older gentleman was trying very hard to not lose his patience. But it Ulrich could tell it wasn't him that the business executive was getting mad at, it was all the clamoring business people that were currently being held back by the older woman in the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen…um…" stammered the woman, "Ladies and gentlemen!" she said firmly. Mr. Cardiff sighed again and placed the pocket watch back in his coat pocket.

"Let it go, Amelie," said Mr. Cardiff in a low voice to the woman, "They're not going to shut up until they have said what they need to say. How else do you think they got here in the first place…?"

But the woman wasn't giving up, "Ladies and Gentlemen!" she said, nearly shouting at the group, "Mr. Cardiff is late for a meeting, now if you have something to say, it can wait until after the meeting!" All of the workers groaned and walked away to their various offices and cubicles. Ulrich thought it was impressive that this woman had such sway in the office, and he had no idea who she was.

"Thanks, sweetie…" said Mr. Cardiff in a timid voice. He leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek, "All these years and I still don't know how to walk through the office without getting mobbed."

"And that's why you hired me, day one," said the woman that Ulrich could only assume was Mrs. Cardiff.

If this really was Mrs. Cardiff, it definitely seemed like their sons took more after their mother than their father. She was blonde, but it wasn't as bright as her sons'. And her hair was graying in places as well. She had her hair done up in a messy side bun, but she still had a few hairs around her temples that framed her round face. She was very beautiful, in spite her age, and was dressed rather professionally in a white blouse and dark-colored skirt. Ulrich's thought about nepotism came back once again, since it seemed the entire Cardiff family worked here at CEM. Ulrich did have to admit though that it was slightly fitting given the company bore their family's name. But it did seem a little unfavorable to the rest of the employees who had to try and land a job based off of actual experience and not because they were related to someone higher up in the company. But Ulrich had to stop himself because he started to realize how hypocritical he was sounding.

"Hello there, dear!" said Mrs. Cardiff pleasantly.

"Um- Hello…" said Ulrich, unsure of what to say or do. The twins were still off in their own little world, and the shy girl in the back was still there, clinging to the shadows. Mr. Cardiff had returned his focus to Ulrich, but instead of a stern look, the older gentleman was actually smiling.

"You must be here to deliver the daily mail!" said Mrs. Cardiff, her face full of joy. But Ulrich thought it sounded a little patronizing like she was talking to a much younger person.

"Um, yes! I have mail for the, uh- "stammered Ulrich, "Mr. Cardiff?"

"Which one?" asked the older woman, and she laughed.

"Um- all of them?" said Ulrich, unsure about what to say.

"It's okay, dearie, it's a family joke!" chuckled Mrs. Cardiff. Mr. Cardiff sighed and held his head in his hand, and mumbled something about how it was only her that found that funny. Ulrich ignored all of that.

"So you are-?" asked Ulrich

"Mrs. Cardiff! Nice to meet you dear! What's your name?" she said, sticking out a hand to shake. Ulrich shook her hand to be polite but was still unsure on what to do otherwise.

"It's not often that we get to personally get to visit with the mailroom employees. Gosh, we're just so busy that often times the mailroom people just drop off the cart and come pick it up later once we've had a chance to finally get around to it!" said Mrs. Cardiff, "And I think this is actually the first time that I've had the pleasure of meeting you Mr.-?"

"Stern, U-Ulrich Stern, ma'am..." stuttered Ulrich. He groaned internally after his flub.

"Well it is nice to meet you Mr. Stern." said Mrs. Cardiff, "I believe we know your father who is head of our Marketing Department, is he not?" she asked.

Ulrich blushed and replied, "Please, just call me Ulrich. Mr. Stern- well Mr. Stern is my father…"

"Well, your father is a valuable asset to this company, to say the least! And I am glad to see that his son works here too!" Ulrich didn't know whether to accept that as a compliment or not. He decided that since Mrs. Cardiff was so nice, she probably meant it as such.

"May I extend a personal thank you for the work you do? Even the mail clerks are important here! My husband and I dare say quite possibly, my sons…" She said with an offhand comment over her shoulder, "Wouldn't know what was going on in this company if it wasn't for young people like you doing your jobs!" said Mrs. Cardiff, and she smiled again.

"Um- thanks, Mrs. Cardiff..." Ulrich didn't know what to say to this nice woman.

"So can we get our mail? I'm already late as it is for this meeting today…" said Mr. Cardiff, cutting in on the conversation.

"Oh, right!" remarked Mrs. Cardiff, "Ulrich, dear, is this cart our mail here?" she said pointing to one of the carts that were more full than the other. Ulrich felt kind of strange being called 'dear', even though it was such a nice lady. It just felt weird after Sissi.

"Um- yes!" said Ulrich, looking into the cart. There were a couple small bundles of mail on top of two large piles. The first few bundles were for Mr. and Mrs. Cardiff. Ulrich pulled those bundles out and handed them to their respective recipients. Mr. Cardiff immediately took out a small pocketknife and slit open his mail.

"Honey?" said Mrs. Cardiff with a concerned voice.

"Mm?" replied Mr. Cardiff, already deep into the first piece of mail.

"Do you have to do that here? We have a meeting to get to, remember?"

"Just going to…read this…first," said Mr. Cardiff, distracted, "Then get to…meeting…"

"Well, read and walk, dear," said Mrs. Cardiff, taking her husband's arm and leading him, "Read and walk…"

The next bundle wasn't for a Cardiff, but for a Noel Evrard. If this cart was for the Cardiff's, then why was that bundle in here? Nicholas probably got it confused with the other cart. Ulrich was about to move it when he heard a curt noise. The girl from the back had cleared her throat to get Ulrich's attention.

"Oh, is this yours?" asked Ulrich. The girl nodded and reached forward to receive her mail. It wasn't a very large stack like Mr. and Mrs. Cardiff's and was nowhere near the amount of mail that the twins were receiving.

"Sweet!" said Seth, "Is this ours?" he said, pointing to the remaining piles in the cart.

"Um…I think so?" said Ulrich.

He had never seen someone in the company get so much mail before. And most of it didn't even look all that work-related. There were many envelopes in girly colors that each smelled of a different perfume. Ulrich didn't know what to make of this, but Seth cheered, grabbed the cart out of Ulrich's hands and started to walk off with it.

"Later, man!" said Seth with a brief wave over his shoulder.

Ulrich wasn't sure if he should be letting someone walk off with his cart, but Sean saw the brunette's concern and put his hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

"It's okay if we take the cart," said Sean in a calm voice, "We'll have someone drop off the cart later when we're done going through it."

"O-kay…" said Ulrich, still a little unfamiliar with the way his job worked. He didn't want to raise a fuss with the twins since they were not only the President's kids but also CEO's in the company. Ulrich wasn't sure but he was pretty convinced that if they wanted to, the twins could fire him. So Ulrich went with the flow just to avoid confrontation.

"Nice to meet you, by the way, I'm Sean," said Sean holding out a hand to shake. His grip was firm but also kind, a real businessman's handshake. "And that doofus over there is my brother, Seth."

"C'mon Es-ee!" shouted Seth from down the hall, "Dad will kill us if we're even more late to this meeting than we already are!"

"Got to go…" said Sean with a chuckle, and he walked off, followed by the red-haired girl.

"So that's the Cardiff's?" thought Ulrich as he stood next to his other cart, "Really don't seem all that special…"

Ulrich didn't know why it was that the voice in his head thought that needed to meet the Cardiff's. But now that he had, he wasn't all that impressed. He was expecting them to be more…spectacular or something. But they just seemed like normal people. Well, within reason. He could tell that Amelie or Mrs. Cardiff definitely seemed to wear the pants in their relationship. And their sons didn't really seem to take this whole "heir to a company" thing all that seriously. Well, except maybe Sean, but as for Seth, it just seemed like he enjoyed the fame and fortune that went with it. And what was with that nickname for his brother? 'Es-ee'? It sounded terrible. But then there was that red-headed girl. What was her name again? It obviously didn't make much of an impression on Ulrich to be able to remember it well enough. But it definitely seemed like something was going on between her and Seth. Did she not like him or something? If so, why was she spending all her time with the Cardiff's then? Ulrich didn't really have the answers, but now he felt like he could cross that bit off his list. Or so he thought. When Ulrich pulled out his list of things to do and people to talk to, the voice in his head said he wasn't done yet.

"That's not getting to know someone…" said the voice, "You need to really introduce yourself if you intend to get to know someone…"

Ulrich didn't know where this voice had come from, or even why he heard it. There were some days that he thought he was going crazy because he was hearing voices in his head. What was even weirder about it was the fact that he had never heard this voice in his head before. It wasn't his voice, or at least not the voice that he heard when he, himself, was thinking. The voice sounded strange, but still vaguely familiar, like he had heard it before somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on why or where he had heard it before. It sounded more familiar to Older Ulrich than Younger, which might have made sense if he even knew why he was hearing it in the first place. But apparently, the voice wasn't letting him off the hook for meeting the Cardiff's just yet.

"Get to know them…really know them…" said the voice with some emphasis.

"Alright, already!" said Ulrich, but what he didn't realize is that he actually said it out loud instead of in his head. Ulrich's little outburst caught the attention of some of the nearby employees who were looking at him a little weird. Ulrich chuckled nervously and held up a hand to calm the now skittish looking employees.

"It's all good!" said Ulrich, nervously, trying to calm everyone, "No big deal, sorry to interrupt." Most of the employees went back to what they were doing. A few shot Ulrich a concerned glance and then got back to work.

Ulrich groaned internally. That was really not the impression he wanted to leave here. At least no one he knew saw him. But then that raised an interesting question. Ulrich didn't see anyone he recognized here, including that pink-haired girl from the elevator; the girl that was somehow on his list of people to talk to. Ulrich knew she got off on this floor the same time he did. But yet, she was nowhere to be seen on this floor. So where was she? Was she in the big, important meeting? If so, who was she that she was able to be at that meeting? Ulrich thought that only the company executives were in that meeting right now. Ulrich still didn't know her name, but he had a sudden stroke of genius that he thought would help him figure out who she was. Ulrich rooted through his remaining cart and grabbed a stack of letters. He marched up to the first employee he could find and struck up a conversation.

"Hey! How's it going?" asked Ulrich, a big smile on his face.

"Yeah, uh-huh…What!?" said the employee rather rudely. Ulrich hadn't noticed that he was on the phone. He had a small earpiece hidden in his ear as he was working on his computer.

"Oh, sorry…uh," stammered Ulrich, trying to make this quick, "I saw a pink-haired girl in her earlier, and I'm pretty sure I have some mail for her," said Ulrich, quickly flashing the letter to the employee, making sure not to show too much.

"It's just I can't be sure because I can't recall her name, and I don't want to accidentally give her the wrong mail. So can you tell me her name? I'm pretty sure she came up her around the same time I did," said Ulrich, trying to speak quickly and quietly.

"Uh-huh…Uh-huh…" said the employee into his earpiece. He then covered the mouthpiece with his hand and whispered, "Pink hair? You're looking for Aelita Schaeffer. But she wouldn't be getting mail up here, she's the head of Animation and Sound. Besides…" said the employee grabbing the letter out of Ulrich's hand.

"This letter is for me!"

"Oh, uh…sorry, I must've…uh, misread it. But thanks for the tip!" said Ulrich, digging through the rest of the cart to find the employee's mail and handing it over. The man snapped the letters out of Ulrich's hand and scowled at him, but couldn't do much because he was still on the phone. Ulrich quietly slipped away and took out the list he was working on.

Next to 'pink-haired girl' Ulrich wrote, 'Aelita Schaeffer'. Ulrich stood there and half expected something to happen with his memories. He felt as if he had unearthed another puzzle piece, but nothing clicked. Ulrich drew up the memory of his friends in his mind's eye and nothing had changed. He could still see Yumi, and himself in a younger form, but everyone else remained generally faceless. Ulrich thought and re-thought about Aelita's name; but for some reason, the name didn't sound familiar. Ulrich had a vague recollection of someone named Aelita in his memories, but for some reason, it didn't seem to match up like he thought it would with the pink haired girl from his memories. But Ulrich thought that there couldn't be that many people named Aelita that also had pink hair. He didn't know what to make of it. But he figured if anyone had answers, it would be the boy at the information desk, Jeremy Belpois.

After Ulrich finished distributing the mail, he quickly returned to the mail room. He expected to see Sissi again when he left the floor, but when he walked by, she wasn't at her desk. Ulrich was relieved that he didn't have to see her again, but it made him worried that he might run into her somewhere else along the way. But Ulrich didn't see Sissi for the rest of the day. Once Ulrich got back to the mailroom, the sound of the mail system had quieted slightly, as mail just seemed to lazily flow into the room at a very leisurely pace. Nicholas was sitting, watching the mail flow in.

"Shouldn't you be…?" said Ulrich, pointing at the mail tubes.

"Nah," said Nicholas, waving a hand in dismissal at the tubes, "Everyone has pretty much gotten their mail for the day, this is just things that either need to go out or will be sorted for tomorrow."

"So what is there left?" asked Ulrich

"Not much," admitted Nicholas, "We just need to bag up most of this to go out with the last courier. And if you really want, you can start sorting some of the other stuff so that it's ready for tomorrow, but this is the slowest part of the day."

Ulrich wasn't too keen on working right now, he was looking for any excuse to go up to the lobby. Then an idea came to him, "Do we happen to have any letters that need to go up to the lobby or the information desk?" Ulrich was hoping that just getting up to the lobby would give him enough of an excuse to stop by and just chat with Jeremy.

Nicholas thought for a second, dug through a couple piles of mail, and then extracted a small envelope from under the large stacks. He stared at the address line and then turned to Ulrich and said,

"Hmm, what do you know? This actually needs to go to that Jeremy kid. Do you remember him from school?"

Ulrich froze, he didn't know how to answer that. Some part of him knew that he probably should, or else Nicholas wouldn't be bringing it up, but for the life of him, Ulrich couldn't remember a thing about Jeremy. The only things he could recall was the conversation he had with him earlier that week, but it wasn't much to go off of. All he could remember was the fact that Jeremy got his name wrong. Ulrich gulped and decided to keep it simple. He knew somehow that Older Ulrich must know Jeremy, but only just.

"Yeah, Jeremy," said Ulrich, acting all pensive, "Blonde kid, short, thick glasses? Real nerdy guy?" he asked quizzically.

"Yeah, that's the one," said Nicholas, "He never really talked much outside of class, and had a real thing for that Aelita girl."

Aelita? Wasn't that the name of the pink-haired girl from sound and animation? It couldn't be a coincidence.

"Huh, I never really knew him that well in school," said Ulrich. He didn't know if that was the truth, but it would have to do for now because he didn't know better.

"Yeah, neither did I, but apparently all the teachers loved him. But, he suddenly transferred soon after we finished the eighth grade," commented Nicholas.

Ulrich had to remind himself that Nicholas was probably talking about the timeline that they were in currently because Younger Ulrich didn't remember Jeremy leaving after eighth grade. But so far Nicholas was on-track with everything Ulrich remembered. Jeremy was just an all-around nerd, and it seemed that no matter the time, nothing was going to change that. But how was he going to talk to him? Ulrich was never really up on his nerd jargon, that wasn't to say he didn't do good in school, it was just that wasn't the kind of people that he hung out in school with, both Old, or Young. Or at least he thought. And there Ulrich was, not completely sure about his feelings about Jeremy and whether he had anything to do with the super-calculator. Ulrich started to second guess himself, a computer like that would need someone who knew what was going on, and if he had to guess, maybe Jeremy was that guy, but there was no knowing for sure until his memory came back, or Jeremy told him. But how would that come up? It wasn't like Ulrich could start off talking that way to the blonde nerd. It certainly wasn't a good way to start a conversation. Ulrich could see it now,

"Hey! Remember me? You got my name wrong earlier this week! Hey, weird question, but have you been having strange things happen to you lately, like some extra memories that feel a little out of place? Like about you, me, and a giant super-calculator?"

Ulrich rolled his eyes and sighed. That was certainly not the way to start any conversation, and he could already see in his mind, the orderlies in white suits coming to haul him away to the funny farm. There was still no sign that Jeremy was in any way involved with Ulrich's memories about the super-calculator and his past life. But why else would Ulrich feel the need to talk to the blonde nerd? So no matter how he thought about it, there was no easy way to go about talking about something like that. But if Ulrich couldn't find a way to bring it up, how else was he going to talk about it? It wasn't something that would just, come up in conversation. And there was no good way to gently ease into something like that either. Ulrich decided he would think about it on his way up to the lobby. Ulrich thanked Nic for the letter, and took it and walked back to the elevator. Ulrich hemmed and hawed in the elevator as he muddled over his problem. Ulrich knew that he could get answers if he stayed persistent, but he didn't actually think about what he would have to do to get those answers. Ulrich ruled out the direct approach and decided to wait to see if Jeremy did or said something that triggered any memories in his mind.

The elevator doors slid open and Ulrich walked across the lobby. At this time of day, the lobby was mostly empty, except for the people that were sitting at each of the labeled desks and a few small groups of businesspeople here and there. Ulrich strode right up to the desk where Jeremy was sat, he was still super absorbed in whatever he always seemed to be doing on the computer in front of him. Ulrich politely cleared his throat and Jeremy snapped to, turned off the screen to the computer and looked up at Ulrich.

"Can I help you?" asked Jeremy

"Uh, yeah," Ulrich decided to play it cool, and maybe at the same time to get a little revenge for earlier that week, "I have a letter for a- uh, Mr. Belding? You know a Mr. Belding?"

Ulrich could see a deep frown form on Jeremy's face as he looked at the letter. Ulrich couldn't tell if he was upset or just reading the writing. But it didn't really seem like Jeremy was reading the writing on the letter, Ulrich waved his hand in front of the blonde nerd's face, without any response. Ulrich was getting a little worried that Jeremy seemed to have just zoned out.

"Hello? Jeremy? Anyone home?" Ulrich continued to wave his hand but there was no response. He couldn't explain it, but in this state, Ulrich had the overwhelming desire to call Jeremy "Einstein". The pensive look and vacant expression on Jeremy's face seemed to fit the look of the aged scientist. Ulrich chuckled and then said,

"Hey, Einstein, wake up! Hellooo?"

Without warning, Jeremy looked at the brunette and said simply,

"Ulrich, S.O.S…"

"What...?"

Ulrich's head split open in pain.

Okay! We are finally getting to the good stuff! Stay tuned! I'm hoping to update this more often!