"Hey Ulrich, looks like someone wants their daddy," Odd said with a smile as he handed over the fussing two-month-old to his father. To Jeremie's slight surprise after young Elliot was in his arms, Ulrich shot Odd a look, and with a shake of his head and a slight kiss to his son's forehead said "Come on, buddy. Let's get you changed, since someone wouldn't do it."
"Not my kid, not my responsibility," Odd replied with a smirk, even as Jeremie shook his head in amusement. "Well, me and Aelita will know not to ask you to help with that," Jeremie declared as Ulrich left the room for privacy. "Oh, are you and Aelita…" Odd started before Jeremie interrupted, "Not yet, were trying though." Jeremie replied with a small smile.
"Eliot no," Ulrich sounded in the other distance, "No peeing on daddy." A moment as the two blondes looked at one before they busted up in laughter. "Laugh it up," Ulrich called out, "but when you two have kids, you'll have to deal with changing diapers and everything that comes with it."
"I don't know about having them myself," Odd commented as Ulrich walked back into the room with his son. Jeremie opened his mouth and then swiftly closed it, unsure as to what to say. After all, while he and Ulrich had respectively married Aelita and Yumi, Odd was very much single and enjoying the dating scene.
"You would have to settle down for that," Ulrich commented as Elliot gave a small smile at his father. As love and adoration shined in Ulrich's eyes as he looked at his little boy, he continued "There's nothing like it, Jer. It's just magical." And Jeremie couldn't help but grin as he imagined a child of his own with Aelita.
"We're back," Yumi declared as he Aelita entered the Stern household. At hearing his mother's voice, Elliot responded back in babble that made sense to no one, but all understand he had missed his mother, who had a girl's day with her friends. "So Yumi," Odd called with a grin, as Yumi entered the living room and sat down on the couch with her husband and child, "Does Elliot often pee on Ulrich?"
"I thought something was different," Yumi commented as she gently took hold of Elliot, who waved his little hands towards her, while tossing a small look at Ulrich's shirt. Odd comically pouted as they ignored his question, while Jeremie just shook his head in amusement, while Aelita let a small squeal at the adorable sight the Stern made.
Time passes, flows, and while a five-month Elliot has a nap, Yumi and Aelita have a chat. "Was there anything you and Ulrich did…. That helped you get pregnant?" Aelita questioned her friend as Yumi was making them lunch. "It's just me and Jeremie are trying but nothing is happening… and…"
"No, we had our honeymoon and Elliot followed," Yumi responded, "But sometimes things can take time…but don't worry, I'm sure you'll get there." Aelita grew reassured at her confidence, but remained worried, a sensation that grew as two months passed and she remained without child and stubbornness gave away as the young couple made decision to visit a fertility clinic.
"Everything's going to fine," Jeremie commented as they sat within the waiting room. "Exactly," Aelita agreed, "They're going to help us, and we'll gave a little boy or girl in no time." The young couple held each other's hand, to help calm their nerves. They were called, did their business, covered what they knew of their family's history, tests were carried out, and after the results were concluded received the results.
"So according to the doctor, everything is normal. I have healthy sperm, Aelita's womb is habitable, so we should be able to get pregnant, it's just not happening…" Jeremie vented to his cousin Patrick. "And I know that these things can take time, it's just…. I don't get why…."
"Maybe it's the stress," Patrick started, "Like you guys are trying too hard and it's putting stress on your bodies or something," the young man took a breath as he comforted his cousin. "Maybe taking a break from trying will help. At the very least you know there's nothing wrong, unless aliens were involved." Patrick finished with a grin, his attempt at humor getting a chuckle out of Jeremie. Later that day, after Patrick departed, his words abruptly struck his mind, and the thought of outside influences reminded him of X.A.N.A.
"What are you doi…. Are you running a scan?" Aelita questioned in confusion as she came to inquire as to what her husband wanted for dinner. "When Patrick was here earlier, we talked, and he tried to get my mind off things by making a joke about aliens being involved. And I don't think aliens are, but it made me think of X.A.N.A. and no there's no evidence of a tower or anything, no evidence that it's alive… I guess I was just looking for a reason that were not pregnant."
"I get that, but if X.A.N.A. could have prevented us from having kids then Elliot wouldn't exist, so we should be able to have a little boy or girl of our own," Aelita countered. "Patrick thought that we were stressing our bodies and that a break could help," Jeremie admitted. After a moment Aelita agreed that the idea had merit, but the mention of X.A.N.A. and the possibility of it being responsible lingered.
A small break, Elliot grows, they continue trying on and off, Elliot turns three and Yumi's belly once more swells. When she sees it all, all she feels is envy and anger strike her, even as she offers congratulations to her friends. The lingering thought of X.A.N.A. making her question if anything or everything about Lyoko could have affected her.
"I'm happy for them," Aelita admitted after they returned home, "I'm happy that they have Elliot, I'm happy that they get to have another kid. And I'm happy that they kept our feelings in mind and waited until Yumi began showing to tell us. But I'm also rather jealous and not happy that despite everything we are no close to having one of our own." As Jeremie moved to sit with her on the couch, "Jeremie, I've been doing some thinking… I was trapped within the supercomputer for a decade, I was trapped for years, my body digital…." She trailed off as she struggled to continue as Jeremie held, "What if changed me? What if being digital for so long, is keeping us from conceiving?"
"What if something went wrong with the materialization program?" Slipped out of Jeremie's lips before he could stop himself and in response Aelita response was swift, "I brought you out as you were and what if it's that's the problem, I was stuck on the present trying to bring you out, and not on the future, so for all we know I could have…" The pair couldn't help as tears gathered within their eyes, "Done something, an error in code or code working exactly as it was meant too, to keep you as you were… and that's why..."
"What if it was X.A.N.A.'s virus or my father removing it," Aelita cut in as tears flew down their faces. "We never figured out how X.A.N.A.'s virus truly worked, what if it was spread through my entire body and…. It could have realized that we could have removed the virus before it could escape Lyoko and so had a failsafe in mind to cause me pain, in some twisted vengeance, long after it was destroyed." The young held each other as they cried.
"We could always adopt," Jeremie ventured but Aelita couldn't help but shake her head, "Could we? They do background checks and there's no guarantee that we'll pass. That they won't realize my background doesn't add up, that Aelita Stone doesn't truly exists, and who knows what could follow from that." Fear seized them at the unknown and Jeremie had no words to offer as he realized another thing his teenage self-had never anticipated or expected. Instead, the young couple just held one another, despair filling their being, and in time bitterly accepted the fact that no matter what they did Aelita would forever remain childless.
Author's Note: The random thought of Aelita experiencing side effects from everything with the supercomputer (being trapped within it, freed from it, the virus to keep her bound to it, and its removal) struck my mind and it turned into this. Meanwhile per canon, Franz and Aelita entered Lyoko in 1994, with the supercomputer being turned on in 2001, and "False Start" which saw Aelita being materialized aired in 2004. Thus, Aelita being trapped within the supercomputer for ten years.
