Mid February

Loss and a Visit

"Hello, Aelita," greeted Beatrix when she arrived at her husband's room. Aelita looked up from her phone. It had been nearly a week since she had arrived and since her hotel was so close to the hospital, she tended to arrive earlier than her grandmother. "How is he doing?" Asked Beatrix.

"About the same," answered Aelita, fatigue from her nigh-constant vigil evident in her voice.

"I see," Beatrix replied. Neville was only awake for a few hours a day and wasn't eating much. While they didn't say it, both Beatrix and Aelita knew he didn't have much time left. "Have you eaten anything yet today?" She asked and Aelita shook her head.

"I can stay for a bit while you go get some breakfast, if you like."

"Yes, please," Aelita said weakly, appreciating the offer. She turned to her grandfather and took his hand for a moment. "I'll be back in a little bit." Neville's eyes cracked open and Aelita felt a feather-light squeeze on her hand. The old man's smile was about as weak as could be, but the affection in it was still clear as day. Aelita smiled back.

As she left the room her phone buzzed. It was Jeremy, asking how her grandfather was doing. She sighed, longing for the thousandth time that he was there. She'd gotten so used being able to bury her face in his shirt and take comfort within his arms that being away from him just made things even worse. She messaged that there was no change and that she missed him. She also told him to go back to bed. In Boston it was the middle of the night, and Aelita sighed, worried that Jeremy wasn't getting anywhere near as much sleep as he should be. She put her phone away and a few minutes later she'd gotten her food and was eating the rather bland meal at a small table.

Her late breakfast was fairly uneventful, though about halfway through an entire table of hospital staff appeared to get a message and left in a hurry. She finished the last of the nearly tasteless food and left for her grandfather's room.

When she had turned the last corner and was approaching the door, a number of doctors and nurses were just leaving. Their now unhurried manner made her heart seize in her chest and she broke out into a jog. The last one was leaving as she hurried into the room and the tears streaming down Beatrix's face confirmed her fears. All the equipment in the room was turned off and Neville lay completely still. A lump caught in Aelita's throat and she stumbled into her grandmother's arms. The two of them cried together for the better part of an hour until they had no more tears to shed.

Aelita pulled away and sniffed before looking at her grandfather.

"He looks peaceful," she said, noticing traces of a smile on his face.

"He lived a good life. We were together for sixty-two wonderful years, and while you and Anthea were both missing for a long time, you both came back. He even got to see you grow into a fine young woman with a promising career, and marry a lovely young man that we're very fond of." Aelita sighed at the mention of her husband, wishing more than ever that he was there.

"I should call him and let him know what happened."

"That's probably a good idea," agreed Beatrix. Aelita stepped out of the room and pulled up Jeremy's contact info on her phone.

After pushing 'call,' the phone only rang twice before he picked up.

"Good morning, Aelita. What's going on?" Greeted Jeremy. He sounded tired.

"It's about Grandpa..." A sudden sob cut off the rest of her sentence, and her eyes started misting again.

"Oh no," whispered Jeremy, knowing exactly what happened. Despite his massive sleep deficit since Aelita left, he suddenly felt fully alert. "I'm so sorry."

"I wish you were here," sniffed Aelita.

"Me too."

"Anyway, I just called to let you know."

"Alright. I guess keep me posted on everything."

"I will. I love you, Jeremy."

"I love you too." Jeremy sighed as he hung up the phone. He felt awful for his wife, and not being there to comfort her was torture in its own right.

He was already having trouble sleeping, and with the news there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to sleep so he went back to compiling data from his work experiments.

A few hours later his alarm to get up went off Glancing at the display he realized that he not only had lost track of time, but he'd pulled the third all-nighter that week! With a groan he left his computer on the couch and started getting ready for the day.

Just before he was about to leave Jeremy was surprised by a knock at the door! Jeremy opened the door, curious as to whom it might be, but his heart sank when he saw the form of Dr. Schmidt. Or course Aelita's stalker would come calling at the absolute worst time... Jeremy glanced around the elderly man and was glad that he seemed to be alone, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"Hello. I don't mean to be rude, but could you give me a second?" Jeremy asked, and before Dr Schmidt could answer Jeremy ducked into the kitchen to send a message to Yumi.

'If you don't hear from me within 1 hour, do a return trip."

He pocketed his phone, as well as a small bottle of pepper spray and went back to the door.

"C-can I help you?" He asked, nervously fiddling with the canister. Jeremy really hoped that he wouldn't have to use it as he knew that he reflexes were shot from his lack of sleep. His phone buzzed with what was presumably Yumi's reply and he felt a little better. It buzzed a couple more times as well.

"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you," Dr Schmidt replied in his thick accent, "but would Dr. Stones happen to be home?"

"No, she isn't," Jeremy answered, though a bit more curtly than he intended.

"I see." The older doctor looked visibly disappointed. "Do you have any idea when she might be getting home?"

"Unfortunately I don't. She's out of town for personal reasons, and I don't know when she'll be back," Jeremy replied truthfully and Dr. Schmidt sighed.

"Very well. I supposed I'll have to come back later. Thank you for your time." With that he started walking briskly away.

"Hey, wait!" Called Jeremy, but the old man didn't slow down. Deciding he was in no shape to follow, he stepped back inside and locked the door. After he put away the pepper spray he looked at the messages on his phone. They were indeed from Yumi.

'Wat going on' it said with an uncharacteristic lack of proofreading from the linguist. He scrolled down and looked at the rest of them

'Pleas anser'

'JERMY!'

Not wanting his friend to worry for any longer than she had to, he pulled out his laptop and opened up his secure messaging program. He pulled up Yumi's contact info and initiated a call. A minute later Yumi's worried face came into view. As soon as the visual was established she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Ok, first things first: are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Jeremy. "For what it's worth, I've recently ironed out my secure calling program so it happens automatically now, so we're good to talk openly."

"Ok, that's good. Give me a second." Yumi stared at the screen intently, as if sending a message. Given that Yumi looked like she was at the school where she worked, Jeremy figured she sent Ulrich to perform the Return Trip and that she was calling him off.

"Alright," said Yumi. Looking satisfied. "So what's going on?"

"Dr. Schmidt came to the apartment asking if Aelita was home." Yumi groaned.

"So he finally decided to do something other than just be creepy."

"He wasn't really that creepy. He just asked if she was home and left when I told her she wasn't. He looked disappointed more than anything else."

"I still don't think you should trust him, even if he does seem harmless."

"I don't."

"When are you going to tell Aelita?" Asked Yumi.

"When she gets home. Her grandpa just passed this morning so she really doesn't need this right now." Yumi let out a small whimper, but didn't say anything else.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Asked Yumi quietly, breaking the silence.

"No. Just being ready with the return trip is enough. Thank you for that."

"Of course. You know we'd do anything for you guys." Jeremy smiled, grateful to have such good friends.

"Thanks, likewise."

"Anyway," Yumi said with a sigh, "I've got to get back to class. Hopefully the devils haven't burned the classroom down. If a return trip goes off anyway, you'll know why!" Jeremy snorted lightly at his friends wry joke at her student's expense, glad for even just a small bit of levity.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." After ending the call Jeremy left for work, double checking to make sure he remembered to fully lock the door. It probably wouldn't keep out anyone either dedicated or trained, but it was really all he could do. With a sigh he made his way to the bus stop.