Warning: Rated 'M' for adult subject matter and adult language.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
The next morning, Aelita woke up alone in a strange bed. On the night stand by her was a note:
Aelita, I'm sorry. Don't leave me. We have to talk. Jeremie.
She looked around again and realized that she was in Jeremie's apartment. Jeremie was sprawled out in his desk chair, asleep.
When she first opened her eyes, she was afraid that the dream she had last night came true, that she went to that club, got picked up by some stranger, and slept with him. She was afraid that she had truly started the chain of events that ruined her life.
But she was here, now, in the place she truly wanted to be.
She got up and found that she was still dressed. Her dress was badly wrinkled from her sleeping in it, but she didn't care. She walked over to the man asleep in the chair, and kissed him.
Jeremie startled awake when her lips touched his. His eyes snapped open and the first thing he saw was her. He wrapped his arms around her, intending never to let her go.
"Oh, God, Aelita, I thought I had lost you," he said after they parted, his voice starting to break up as his tears started.
"I thought I had lost you, too," she said, crying herself now.
They just held each other and cried.
Later, Jeremie fixed them some tea.
"Aelita, I want to apologize," Jeremie started, "I know I've been a prick for the last month, but I realized last night that I've been stringing you along for the longest time."
Something went cold in Aelita. Was he getting ready to dump her?
Jeremie continued, "all those times when we've made love, I was telling you that I was ready for the final step, to enter you and give you the pleasure you truly deserve."
"But I'm not ready, yet, and that's why I always stopped. It's not that I don't want to, and it's not that I don't find you desirable, because I do on both counts. It's just that there's something inside of me that tells me it isn't time yet, and if I rush things, something bad will happen."
"I know that some day, the time will be right. And when that day comes, I will spend it and every day after it recompensing you for the pain I've caused."
She looked at him for a moment, then said, "I don't care."
Jeremie was shocked.
Aelita continued, "I don't care if you ever touch me again in that way, just never leave me! I was wrong, thinking I needed you inside of me to be loved. Last night, I lived an entire lifetime in that meat market, going from partner to partner, experiencing only the briefest and palest moments of pleasure, but never Joy. The only thing I ever got from it was emptiness and loneliness. I've felt more love in the few minutes we've sat here than I could ever know with the one night stands I would have found."
"I forgot a promise that was given to me a long time ago, when I first felt your body next to mine. I forgot that one day, it will be the right time. Don't ever let me forget it again."
He took her hands into his own. "I won't."
Jude/Judy, the Two That Are As One, Sunderer and Rejoiner, Husbandmen of the Branches of Life, regarded his/her/their work.
"Adequate," said Jude.
"Adequate, but he didn't tell her the whole truth. Had he done so, she would have Healed him now, and saved themselves grief later on," said Judy.
"That wound was unintended, but it serves a purpose. While they have their bond, like the others, it is no where near as strong as, say, the Della Robbias," said Jude.
"That was a fluke. They took a bond of protection and turned it into a marriage bond," she said.
"With absolutely no prompting or assistance from anyone, Above, Below, or In Between. That was a truly powerful work," he replied.
"Agreed. What of these two?"
"They have their education to complete," he told his companion, "then they must take up their Battle again. But their Time is coming. Soon it will be Right and Time."