They receive great news!

“And done,” Aelita said as she made a final transaction. She was in her office room with some of the more relaxing variants of her music playing while she did some work. She took a sip of relaxing tea that Katara had brought her earlier. Aelita stretched a bit and regretted it as her baby bump complained at the sudden movement.

“There, there,” Aelita cooed as she patted her belly. “Just stretching after a long day of working. I just earned your father controlling interest in the Cat’s Meow restaurants and the Ethereal Garden flower shop franchises with his poker winnings.” Aelita smiled as the kicking subsided and she got up from her comfortable chair. She turned off the music and started walking downstairs.

Aelita reflected on what has happened since her last visit to the Mother’s Class/Club nearly four days ago. Nuelssa had apparently prevented an attempted **** of some sort by users of a magical device. The police are still looking into who their target was but it was an apparent dead end and they aren’t providing more information. They said it was unlikely to be connected to James’ disappearance since the recently discovered Zoey Mal’Kalin, heiress to the Mal’Kalin fortune, was participating in a baking class there. Still, Aelita decided it was safer to cancel any excursions away from home except for going to the wedding venue being built and rebuilt on the local Gardner family home.

Aelita nodded to Callie and Marie as she passed them in the hallway. The two of them plus Kyouka and Alex have been composing songs for both the wedding reception and singles to put on Youtube. Aelita smiled as she recalled the touch ups and remixes she made of their music.

Walking down stairs, Aelita spotted Blackfire doing simple exercises just inside the main living room. Blackfire has taken quite a bit of time getting used to not being a living footstool. There have been a few issues due to her nightmares and her panicking if she sat still for too long. Thankfully, she hasn’t been too much trouble as her strength hasn’t fully come back. Tamaraneans were resilient and she has gone up from middle schooler strength to high school football player in just a few days.

Taking equipment from the gym to set up around the house was a small price to pay for peace in the house. Aelita was really glad for the peace, especially after she and Starfire decided to change something; in particular when they changed something the other wanted. Aelita was still sure that moss green tiles would better represent James than pear green but was willing to let it go to have pink macaroons instead of mustard cookies.

“What are you watching?” Aelita asked as she greeted those watching TV, including Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen, Starfire, Erza, Kate, and Laura. On screen, a muscled alien with an odd mask was flickering in and out of view while a pack of small teddy bears chased it into a trap.

“Oh hey Aelita, finished up today?” Erza replied as she offered a bowl of popcorn. “The Disney company is having a marathon of these Versus movies. We are on Predator vs Ewoks. I was really impressed with the Predator in the beginning with the weapons in his armor but then he quickly got in over his head.”

“We’ll show you his movie later; the Ewoks make it an unfair fight,” Starfire assured her as she ate some flurganork tenders. Fluganork tenders being a Tamaranean snack.

*Ring Ring!* Aelita was about to ask Starfire to make room for her but then her phone started ringing. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the caller id, “Give me a minute, it's James’ dad.” Gwen S shot her web shooters to grab the remote from the coffee table and muted the movie.

“Hello? Is there any news?” Aelita asked as she answered and put the call on speaker.

“Well yeah, I have good news for ya Aelita. How are you today by the way?” Charles asked cheerfully.

“I’m doing fine. James is now majority shareholder of a chain of flower shops and a catgirl restaurant thanks to his poker money,” Aelita replied before shaking her head to focus. “What is the good news?” Aelita felt her hope growing as she begged that her love was alright. The others in the room, including Blackfire who had stopped exercising, were paying rapt attention to Charles’s answer.

“Well during the last poker night, James won a set of Naruto girls,” Charles explained, causing Aelita’s hopeful smile to start to dip. “Well, they finally finished their loyalty and maid training. They’ll be dropped off around five.”

“Oh…” Aelita sighed disappointedly. “We’ll get their rooms setup. Thank you for letting me know.”

“No problem,” Charles smiled. His phone decided at that point to make a beep. “Ah, I’m getting another call. I’ll check up on you and Starfire later, okay? Bye…” The call disconnected.

“I’ll go get some of the girls to set up a couple of rooms,” Kate offered as she set down her bowl of popcorn and got up. She patted Aelita’s shoulder comfortingly as she left. “They’ll find him. And Diana and Gogo.”

“Thank you…” Aelita said as she sat down next to Starfire with a frown. Starfire drew Aelita in a one armed hug.

“James is strong and clever, he is on his way, you’ll see…” Starfire tried comforting Aelita but Aelita’s phone rang once again. *Ring Ring!*

“Yes?” Aelita answered and put the phone on speaker again when she saw that James’ dad had called again.

“They found him!”

“Yes!” Starfire cheered as she flew in the air, arms spread in a cheerleader pose.

“Thank you,” Aelita cried happy tears at the news.

“He’s getting checked over while Rein Corp and Walt’s 3S units clean up the place he was found, they say he looks to be alright minus a couple of fresh scars.” Charles reports. “The investigators want to talk to him. Should be on Prime Earth tonight at the latest.”

“We’ll be ready for him,” Erza informed as she took the phone. “Thank you.”

“No problem, I’m going to Rein Corp now to see if I can get James out earlier,” Charles replied before hanging up. Aelita and Starfire shared a gleeful smile and held each other’s hands and let out excited high pitched cheers.

“I’ll get the metal bikinis, you get the poles,” Aelita said, receiving a nod from Starfire. Aelita got up from the couch and everyone in the room dispersed to get the house ready.

“Marinette! I need the **** girl bikinis and I need them now! James is coming home!” Aelita announced loudly so the whole mansion could hear.