Chapter 1

Aélita watched as Sceaux, France turned into country side as she rode along in the back seat of Michel Belpois' car. She knew that not the entire world looked like the sub city of Paris that had been her home for as long as she could properly remember but to see it in person took her breath away.

"Have you never seen the French country side before, Aélita?" Michel asked, glancing up to look at the girl sitting next to his son in the rear-view mirror.

"No, it's beautiful," Aélita said, a smile on her face as rolling hills of peaceful land blurred by. Here and there cows and sheep dotted what of the world she could see. She turned to look at Jérémie in the seat next to her and asked, "How far out is your house?"

"It's about four hours from school," Jérémie offered. "Just outside of Besançon along the edge of the mountains."

"The backyard is higher in elevation then the house," Michel let out a laugh. "I am curious, Aélita, why couldn't you go home for the holidays?"

"Oh, we couldn't afford the plane ticket," Aélita lied, sticking to the same story they had told at Kadic.

"Aren't they going to miss you?" Michel asked.

"Well, I'll still be able to talk to my dad, he's all the family I have left," Aélita lied with a sigh. She quickly remembered she was supposed to be Odd's cousin and added, "At least close family."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Michel's voice trailed off as he took another glance at the teens behind him.

"It's okay," Aélita flashed a smile up at the eyes in the small mirror, hoping to show she meant it.

Michel smiled sadly at the girl before looking back down at the road.

Silence passed through the car for a moment before Jérémie piped up, "Dad? Who's hosting Christmas this year?"

"Oh right, I've been meaning to tell you two about that," Michel said. "We got picked, so sleeping arrangements are going to be a little tight."

Jérémie let out a moan before asking, "Who's all supposed to be there?"

"When I left, Marinette, Adrien, and Patrick had just shown up and Jay was on his way," Michel offered. "Your Grandmére should be arriving later today and tomorrow's when the rest should show up. In total, uh, about eleven."

"A'nt Jane and Aunt Jane are coming with their families?" Jérémie asked, his lack of enthusiasm showing on his face.

"A'nt Jane and Aunt Jane?" Aélita echoed, a smile playing on her lips.

"And their kids," Michel nodded his head.

Jérémie looked at the girl next to him and explained, "Aunt Jane is Mom's sister. She married Uncle Robert a few years ago and have a little girl, uhm…"

"Alexa," Michel offered.

"While A'nt Jane married Mom's brother, Uncle Luc, and have George," Jérémie continued.

"I hope I'm not intruding," Aélita said, her smile faltering at all these names.

"Don't worry, we've all been wanting to meet you," Michel said, a smile on his face. "Our Jérémie's talked about you enough."

"He has, has he?" Aélita eyed the teen at her side, smiling as his face grew red.

"Oh hey, is that Noam Kaniel?" Jérémie asked as the radio changed to a new song. "Turn it up, Dad. I like this song."

Michel took the subject change for what it was, a smile on his face, as he turned the volume up a few notches.

"What have you told them?" Aélita asked, smiling at Jérémie.

"Not much. I may have brought you up a couple of times," Jérémie said, giving her a smile. He looked down at the computer sitting in its bag at his feet, his smile evaporating.

Aélita reached out and grabbed his hand. "Don't worry," she said, her voice low enough the radio covered it from Michel's ears. "Yumi's watching the factory and if Xana attacks, we'll know."

"I can't help but worry," Jérémie admitted, keeping his voice low. "As much as I'm glad you're here, I just fear Xana's going to attack again."

Aélita put her other hand on the hand she already held, encasing it in hers. "Jérémie, if he attacks, Yumi can hold him off until we get there, but for now just enjoy yourself and your time off."

Jérémie let out a sigh. "You're right."

"Good," Aélita said as a yawn escaped her. She rested her head on his shoulder and asked, "How much longer till we're home?" She never heard Jérémie's answer.

AN: Hi again, this is another re-write of an old story I created back in 2011. If you are one of those Lyoko Fans that have been around for a while, you might recognize this story from something on a different fanfic site. I cringe for you. The original version of this story was written by a very horny high school student. I won't give you the link to that version of this story until the very end, because reading that one first would turn you away from me forever… But I re-read it one night and realized there was so much untapped potential to it. Down here I'll be commenting about what changed.

ODD: Does anyone want to read about that?

AÉLITA: Odd, let her work. If she wants to, let her.

ODD: I'm just saying, not everyone buys the commentary special of every movie.

YUMI: You're dating yourself, Odd. It comes on the normal DVDs now.

ODD: Oh… Yeah… Well, not everybody buys the special edition of every movie they want.

AN: Odd.

ODD: What?

AN: Shut up. *sigh* I've got way too many characters up in this head space of mine…

Oh, I realized while re-working this episode, that Patrick hadn't met the gang by Christmas break. But he's Jérémie's cousin so he needed to be there with the family. So, opps. Oh well. See you next chapter and happy early Christmas!