Mid September
Relief and Reunion
Jeremy continued absently working on the calculations for his scanner. His research had slowed dramatically since Aelita had been laid off. Without her working on the virtualization half of their goal, his motivation had disappeared with her former employment. Also troubling had been the way they didn't seem to talk anywhere near as much anymore. Her unwanted idleness had been taking a toll on their relationship lately, not to mention her mental well being! To make things worse, he'd even forgotten to bring the lunch she'd packed for him, and with how tight money had been he refused to go out!
"Hi, Jeremy." The young genius pulled out of his melancholy reverie and looked around for the familiar voice he loved the most. When he spotted Aelita, he burst into a wide grin as she looked happier and more excited than she had been in a long time! She held up his lunch bag with a snarky grin. "Forget something?" She teased. Jeremy nodded with a sheepish grin on his face. His fiancé held up a second bag. "Want some company?"
"Yes, please!"
"You'd seem to be on a really good mood today. What's going on?" Asked Jeremy, once the couple had sat down in the cafeteria.
"I was talking to my grandparents earlier today, and I let slip that money had been tight since I got laid-off. Grandma then offered to give us our wedding present early to take some of the pressure off." Aelita said excitedly.
"That's nice of them," replied Jeremy. To his knowledge Aelita's grandparents weren't rich, so he hadn't been expecting much anyway. However, Aelita looked like she wasn't finished with the story so he kept listening attentively.
"Yes, it is! Anyway, when I was born, my they started regularly putting money away into an high yield account to help with schooling. They stopped when my father and I disappeared, but they never touched it after that either. So while they didn't know the exact amount that was in the account right now, between the six years of deposits, compounded with over twenty years of interest, it's had to have grown into a pretty considerable sum by now!" Jeremy gasped at what His fiancé was telling him. "And they're giving us the whole thing!" Jeremy just stared slack-jawed, suddenly feeling incredible relief, as well as a tremendous amount gratitude toward the Hoppers' generosity.
"Wow..." he whispered. "That's really going to help."
"I know!" Aelita exclaimed, beaming at her fiancé until he was returning the look. Her expression softened, and then she continued. "This is going to seem a little random, but bear with me. You know how I've had a lot of time to myself lately?"
"Uh huh."
"Well, I've been thinking about us." Jeremy suddenly got a little nervous.
"Ok..."
"For a long time, our work together was a huge part of our relationship. While that was fine while we were both working, now that I'm not working, that part has fallen by the wayside and we haven't filled it with anything else."
"I guess that's true," murmured Jeremy.
"Because of that, I've been starting to think that spending so much of our time and energy on our work goals might not have been a good thing for our relationship." Jeremy though for a moment before quickly coming to the realization that his fiancé was probably right.
"Alright, that makes sense. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this?" He asked.
"I'm not quite sure, but I think if we figure out an activity or two that we can do together that doesn't involve work, that might help. I also want to set aside some of my grandparent's money for it. It can be something inexpensive, or something that's really cheap after the initial investment, though I haven't come up with much yet."
"That sounds good," replied Jeremy with a grin. "Can we talk about it more tonight?"
"A little, but we've got the reunion video call with the others tonight." Jeremy clapped his palm to his forehead.
"I can't believe I forgot about that, I'm such a doofus!"
"No Jeremy, you're not a doofus," soothed Aelita with a small chuckle. "You've just had a lot on your mind lately." Jeremy pulled his hand away from his forehead and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah. I've been worried about you."
"I appreciate it Jeremy, but I'll be ok." The couple grinned at each other. A moment later, Jeremy glanced at the clock and saw that lunch was almost over.
"I've got to get back to work, but I'm really glad you stopped by!" The two hugged briefly.
"Me too. I'll see you at home," replied Aelita.
"I'll see if I can get out a little early today so we can spend some more time with the others."
"Sounds good, Jeremy." Excited that Aelita seemed to be happier than she'd been in quite a while, Jeremy leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the lips. The unusually forward public affection caught her off guard for a moment, but she left the cafeteria beaming.
Once she'd left, Jeremy pulled out his phone and quickly typed in a message to William.
'It looks like project: birthday is back on!'
A moment later he got a reply.
'Really! So she got a job?'
'No, but we've got a little bit of money coming. We're gonna need to be frugal, but I think we can make it work.'
'You can count on me!'
Jeremy smiled at the last message. He though for a moment before adding one last question.
'How're things going with Lily?'
'... ... ... ...'
He stared at the line of dots with his face scrunched in confusion until his phone bleeped again.
'SHE SAID YES!'
Jeremy's jaw dropped
'You asked her to marry you!? I think we need to talk soon!'
'Yep, and you bet!'
'Then congratulations! Can I tell Aelita and the others?'
'Sure, go ahead!'
Jeremy grinned widely as the day just seemed to keep getting better.
A couple hours later, Jeremy was out of work and at his apartment door. He managed to catch Dr. Lowell in a rare good mood, and was able to get off an hour early with the agreement that he'd stay an hour later the next day. On the way home he'd been thinking about what Aelita had said about activities, and he was very excited to talk about it with her.
Walking inside, he found a very happy Aelita coming out of the bedroom. They quickly closed the distance and met with a lingering kiss.
"So, I think I've come up with one idea of something we can do together," Jeremy said once he pulled away.
"Really! What?"
"Cooking!" The young man exclaimed, drawing a surprised look from his fiancé. "You've been doing all the cooking lately, and I kinda miss it... and I really miss doing it with you!"
"Ok," agreed Aelita. "I was thinking more like something that wasn't a household necessity, but we can certainly do that!" The two smiled at each other, both of them appreciating feeling like they were reconnecting again. "I want to try to figure out something else too. Something that will get us out of the apartment!"
"Ok, I'll think about it."
"Me too. But for now, let's get on with the others!"
Aelita grabbed her laptop and brought it to the dining room table. Once she put it down, Jeremy pulled her up onto his lap, making her giggle! Turning her neck she kissed him before booting up the computer, and smiled when she felt his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind.
A few minutes later, Odd and Sissi popped up on the screen. They were on the couch with Odd was sitting in front of his wife, who had her arms loosely hugging around his waist.
"Hi, guys!" Greeted Odd cheerfully, with Jeremy and Aelita returning the greeting. "I think Ulrich and Yumi will be on in a minute."
"That sounds good. How's married life going?" Asked Jeremy.
"It's been great!" Exclaimed Sissi, kissing her husband on the top of his head.
"I hope the adjustment hasn't been to difficult," added Aelita.
"It's actually been pretty smooth, though since we moved in together a few months before the wedding we kinda already started adjusting then," replied Sissi.
"I guess the biggest change is how much fun we have in the bedroom!" Joked Odd, making his wife groan. "What!? It's true and you know it!" She scrunched her nose and started tickling her his sides making Jeremy and Aelita laugh at the spectacle! "Ok, OK, MERCY, MERCY!" He shrieked.
"I hope you learned your lesson." Sissi scolded.
"You still never denied it," the small blond said quietly with a small smirk. His wife glared at him.
"Remind me why I married you again..."
"Because you love me and think I'm awesome!" He replied with a cheesy grin. Sissi opened her mouth to retort, but closed it with a slightly defeated look.
"that's... true..." she muttered, making Jeremy and Aelita chuckle again.
Just then, Ulrich and Yumi's faces came up on the screen.
"Hi Ulrich, Yumi," greeted Aelita.
"Hi everyone!" greeted Yumi in return.
"So, how was your double date last weekend?" Asked Sissi, clearly eager to divert attention from herself.
"I was a good time, actually," answered Ulrich.
"A double date? With who?" Inquired Jeremy.
"Yumi's ex-boyfriend!" Teased Odd.
"What?" exclaimed both geniuses while Yumi snorted.
"His name's Xavier, and while that is technically true, we only dated for a month, and it's not like it ever got that serious!" Clarified Yumi.
"And you're ok with this?" Aelita asked Ulrich.
"Yeah. I met him a while back and he's a really nice guy. He's not Yumi's type anyway," answered Ulrich, earning a nod from his wife. "He actually reminds me of Jeremy."
"Really? Hmm," grunted the blond genius, who was surprised at the lack of jealousy in the whole thing.
"Yeah, I kinda see it too," agreed Yumi. "You two would probably get along well. Anyway, he moved back to the area a while ago and when we ran into each other we decided to carry on as friends. A few months ago he got a girlfriend, and from what we could tell last weekend, it looked like it's going well."
"That's actually really nice. I'm glad you've got a social life over there," replied Aelita.
"So, how about you guys?" Asked Sissi, "getting nervous about the wedding yet?" She teased the 'nearly weds.'
"No, not yet," chuckled Jeremy.
"But we're definitely getting excited," added Aelita.
"Speaking of weddings, guess who else is getting married." the others looked on confused while Jeremy paused for dramatic effect. "William!"
"Really!" Blurted Yumi. "So he proposed to Lily then?"
"Yep!" confirmed the young genius.
"Good for him!" Exclaimed Ulrich.
"When did he tell you that?" Asked Aelita, surprised that she hadn't heard already.
"This afternoon." answered Jeremy.
"I'm glad that he's doing well," added Odd.
"Me too. How's the job hunt going?" Sissi asked, changing the subject. "Any leads."
"Not really," replied the pink-haired young woman, sadly. "But I found out today that my grandparents are going to be giving us our wedding present early. That's definitely going to help."
"That's good. I'm glad to hear that you guys are getting some relief," responded Sissi.
Over the next couple hours, the group talked about everything that was going on with their lives. Yumi managed to get hired into a full time teaching position, Odd was starting to write the screenplay on his first feature length film, Sissi had her hands full as an ER nurse, and Ulrich had just gotten a promotion at his firm.
Around mid-evening, it was starting to get late for those who were on European time and it was time to say goodbye. After hanging up the two geniuses went to the kitchen to make dinner together like they'd talked about before the call.
"It was nice talking to everyone again," remarked Jeremy, as he was pulling out a cutting board to dice up some vegetables.
"Yeah, they all seem to be doing really well," replied Aelita, who despite being happy for her friends, let slip just a little bit of sadness in her voice.
"It'll be your turn soon, I just know it!" Reassured Jeremy. He put down the bag of carrots he had just gotten from the refrigerator and pulled his fiance into a brief hug. "In the meantime, lets talk about something happier, like whatever it is we're gonna start doing for fun!" Aelita smiled, handing him a knife for the veggies.
"That sounds good, Jeremy."
The two finished making dinner, ate and then spent much of the rest of the evening brainstorming ideas. Later, as they cuddled up together to go to sleep, they were both happier than they'd been in some time.
A/N: I'm really sorry about this longest interval between chapters I've ever had... I had another project that I was working on. In addition, I also changed jobs, and the hustle and bustle of that kinda threw me off. I'll try to not have another gap between chapters that long again, but as before I make no promises!