Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.


Jessie rushed out of her room and into the living room. She had to climb over some boxes and make sure not to step on broken beer bottles that tended to litter the floor. She reached over and turned on a light. She tried to find her jacket in the mess. She dug through old food, probably something from a Ratatta that got into the house from time to time, and basically garbage to try and find it. She tried to think what she had done with it before, when she got home from her morning kindergarten class. She remembered her foster mother throwing it somewhere in here after she basically ripped it off of the five year old. "Jessica, what on Earth are you looking for?" Her foster mother asked, holding a heating pad to her head due to a hangover.

"My coat." Jessie said and smiled at her. It was a good moment for her foster mother, meaning she didn't have to run and hide like usual.

"I'll help you find it." She smiled at the small girl and put the heating pad down, and popped some ibuprofen in her mouth and swallowed it.

"Thank you." Jessie said politely. Her foster mother began to dig through the disgusting mess her and her husband created. Jessie studied her foster mother. She was a nice woman when she didn't have any drugs or alcohol in her that was for sure. She could be pretty if she didn't pick at her skin due to her meth addiction. But her hair was a medium brown, just passing her shoulders, and when her eyes weren't glazed over, Jessie could clearly see her bright green-blue eyes that tended to vary depending on how the light hit them.

"This is hopeless." She said, kneeling in the mess. "Do you remember where you put it?"

"Umm, you threw it somewhere over here I think." Jessie said, pointing to a mountain of garbage. "And then you threw other stuff on it."

"I didn't throw it. I would never." She said with sadness in her voice.

"You did." Jessie whispered and looked up at her. The older woman began sobbing and pulled Jessie into a hug, more to comfort herself than Jessie.

"I am so sorry, forgive me." She sobbed. Jessie had to breathe from her mouth because the woman's clothes smelled of smoke and alcohol. It mixed in with the smell of garbage everywhere. The woman sobbed and sobbed, holding Jessie at arm's length and hitting her face, then apologizing for it, then hitting again, apologizing…it was an endless cycle. Jessie didn't cry though. The physical pain of slaps barely hurt anymore. It gave her a strange feeling of numbness. She began to get scared because her foster mother wouldn't stop crying hysterically. She had stopped hitting her and put her hands on her face and crying into them.

Jessie slowly backed away and ran into her room, shutting the door and locking it. She pressed her back against the door, repressing the tears that tried to fall from her eyes. "Mommy…" She whispered, referring to her biological mother; the one who went missing two years ago. Jessie pushed herself up from the door and looked into her closet. She hated it because it was always messy. She had a hard time reaching the pole that went across it, so she usually just threw her clothes (as neatly as she could) on the floor. She searched through it and found a different jacket. She knew it wouldn't keep her as warm from the cold winter air as the other one, but she put it on anyway, knowing that it was better than nothing.

Jessie climbed out the two story window carefully, putting each foot and hand in cracks and bricks that had been pushed in. She didn't want to face her foster mother, whom was emotionally unstable at the moment.

The winter air chilled her, but she figured she'd get adjusted to it like usual. She pulled up the hood on her pink jacket to keep her ears warm. She shoved her little hands in her pockets. She walked quickly through Celadon City, hoping that adults wouldn't notice her. They never did, but she always had to hope that they wouldn't.

Jessie began to wish that she wore pants instead of a dress. What had she been thinking that morning? Oh, right, it was her favorite dress. It was a light pink with a dark pink bow in the back. She remembered how she wore it proudly in school- no one made fun of it. In fact, since her friend Cassidy began to give Jessie her old clothes, the kids in school stopped laughing at Jessie's clothes.

Jessie saw that she had entered the rich part of the city after hours of walking in the dropping temperatures. She had zipped up the jacket as far as it could go so that it covered her mouth and the tip of her nose. She was glad that the jacket was oversized for her. However, the parts of her face that was exposed burned as the wind blew faster as nightfall came.

She watched the taxis and cars rush by her, along with some people who still walked the night streets. Jessie continued to walk down the blocks until she reached the houses, no, mansions. She silently climbed over the gate that kept most people out. The guard hadn't even seen her due to the fact he was probably overworked and didn't sleep enough.

Jessie ran up the street as fast as she could, wanting to desperately get out of the cold. She entered one of the yards and began to climb a tree that had grown close to the house. She could barely feel her fingers grip the cold bark of the tree as she continued to climb. The wind got stronger and her joints began to hurt. She knew she shouldn't have worn a dress that day. Jessie climbed to the designated branch and carefully reached over to knock on the window. It literally hurt her hand when she did. The glass from the window was chilling. No one was coming to the window. She sighed, the other girl's parents probably had one of those expensive parties going on in the first floor. Her suspicions were correct when she heard the classical piano music when the wind stopped.

Jessie shuffled over, closer to the window. She lifted up on the window, and was glad that it was left unlocked. Jessie crawled into the window and onto the dresser that sat next to it. Once she was on the dresser, she closed the window and fixed the white curtains. Jessie hopped off the dresser quietly and kicked off her shoes. She also took off her jacket and threw it on the floor. She crawled onto the large queen sized bed and into the white blankets. The heat from the house and the blankets were warming her up quickly.

Jessie gazed around the dark room. She knew that the walls were purple and most of the accessories in it were white. For some reason, the room was comforting to her. Jessie found that she wasn't really all that tired. She just wanted to lie there and feel all warm and comfortable. Her foster parents refused to put the heat on in the house for some reason. She wondered how those two didn't freeze at night. For all she knew, they left her home alone once she went to bed. She wouldn't have been surprised.

All of a sudden, the heavy, white, maple door swung open and a lamp was turned on, enveloping the room in a warm yellow glow. The door shut and Jessie's sapphire ones met her friend's surprised and startled violet ones. "Hi Cassie!" Jessie said happily and sat up to greet her friend.

"Hey Jessie." Cassidy said, taking off the half inch heels she had to wear that night. "What brings you here tonight?" Jessie knew Cassidy knew the answer to that, but she answered it anyway.

"The cold." Jessie said. "And I missed you when you went to Sinnoh." Cassidy could only smile at her five year old friend who reminded her of a baby Pichu in that bed.

"I missed you, too, Jessie Jess." Cassidy said and climbed onto her bed to give Jessie a hug. Jessie admired Cassidy's beautiful green dress that came down to the floor. It made her look older than nine. Cassidy did have a tendency to act older than she was anyway, so the dress made her look perfect. Jessie wished that she could have a dress like that. "You're hands are freezing!" Cassidy took Jessie's hands in her own in hopes to warm them up. "I think you need a bath, too."

Cassidy was right, Jessie did need one. The water in her house had been shut off again. She usually sneaked into the Pokemon Center, but Nurse Joy was getting suspicious, so Jessie couldn't really use the showers there. Besides, Jessie was only five and couldn't really wash herself properly. "I do." Jessie agreed.

"Come on, I'll go start one. I need one too." She said and walked into the bathroom that was attached to her room. Jessie followed her in and watched Cassidy start up the bathtub.

"Can you put the bubbles in it?" She asked excitedly.

"Well of course! It wouldn't be proper to have a bath without them, would it?" Cassidy said over the water that was filling up the tub. She took out the bubble bath from under the cabinet and handed it to Jessie. She took it and put some in the water. She watched the white bubbles form and smiled at them. Cassidy turned off the bath water once it was filled. Jessie began to take her dirty clothes off and got into the bathtub. Since the tub was large enough to probably fit two or three adults comfortably, Cassidy also got into the tub. The first time Jessie had taken a bath with Cassidy, she had been confused because Cassidy claimed that she was a girl, but had what boys had between their legs (which was Jessie's big discovery-the difference between boys and girls-in the fall). However, once Cassidy said that inside she was just as much of a girl Jessie was, Jessie didn't really think much of it after that. She knew Cassidy was different, but it didn't bother her much. Cassidy was still Cassidy no matter what, even though Jessie still couldn't say her name properly.

"Cassie, what if we put in more bubbles?" Jessie asked, eyeing them on the side of the tub.

"Then there'd be a mountain of them." Cassidy smiled as she began to wash herself. Meanwhile, Jessie enjoyed the warmth of the bath and eventually started to wash her body as best as she could. Cassidy had to get the back of her because Jessie had a hard time reaching it. Cassidy washed her own hair first, followed by Jessie's head of hair that anyone would be envious of.

"Cassie, how come the sky is blue?" Jessie asked.

"Jess, that was way too random, even for you."

"But why isn't it green? Or yellow? Or pink? Or magenta?"

"I don't know." Cassidy shrugged. "That's just the way it is."

"But then why is it like that?"

"I don't know, Jessie." Cassidy said.

"Why is it sometimes white, and then grey, and then black? And why are clouds white and look like cotton candy?"

"Ask your kindergarten teacher. She'd gladly answer those for you." Cassidy said and finished conditioning the younger girl's hair.

"Okay." Jessie said. She wanted to keep asking questions about the sky, but she knew that she shouldn't. She didn't want her best friend to be mad at her.

"Anyway, how was kindergarten today?"

"It was fun! I drew you a picture, but it's hanging up in the school in the hallway in art today. I made a Ponyta and you were riding it." Jessie explained in her little voice. "Oh, and I won Simon Says today so I got a big sticker, the really big kind." Jessie stated proudly. Cassidy got out of the tub and dried herself off, followed by putting on her pajamas. "And Izzy's mommy showed us how to make silly putty. And then we played with it. We took it home, but I lost it somewhere already."

"Sounds like you had quite the busy day." Cassidy smiled. She took a clean towel and wrapped it around Jessie who had gotten out of the bathtub. Cassidy had taken out a pair of her old pajamas and let Jessie wear them.

"I did!" Jessie said and crawled up into Cassidy's bed again. "Kindergarten is always busy, Cassie." She grinned up at the older girl.

"Oh, it sure is." Cassidy said and walked over to her dresser and took out a brush to do her hair so it wouldn't tangle in the morning as much. She handed Jessie one, so that she could try to do her own hair again. Jessie copied Cassidy as she brushed her hair, and it actually turned out okay that time. However, Cassidy still had to go over it in the back.

There was a knock at the bedroom door. Cassidy sighed and got up to see who it was. Of course, it was her mother who stood there. She wore a beautiful wine colored dress that came down to the floor. Jessie loved the diamonds Cassidy's mom always wore because they were so shiny and when the light hit them, they really sparkled. "How come you left the party so early, Cassidy?" Her mother questioned.

"Mom, it's nine o'clock and I'm tired. And there's no one my age there anyway. It got kind of boring." Cassidy admitted.

"Oh, sweetie, so sorry." She said and ran her hand through Cassidy's golden locks that were beginning to dry. "Oh, is that Jessie over there?" She said and looked over to the five year old girl who stared at the diamonds. Cassidy's mother put her wine glass down on the nightstand and sat down on Cassidy's bed. "Hello, Jessie." She smiled at the little girl.

"I like your necklace!" Jessie said and knelt on the bed. She reached over to touch it.

"Thank you, they're diamonds. Do you like them?"

"You know I do, Mrs. Carlson." Jessie laughed. She was grateful that Cassidy's mother was in a good mood that night. Cassidy joined them on the bed and watched Jessie fiddle with the necklace on her neck.

"I didn't even see her come in." Her mother said.

"Neither did I. I came in and here she was. I'm pretty sure she came through the window. I gave her a bath and clean clothes." Cassidy stated proudly.

"You are so good to her, baby." She said and brought her daughter into a one armed hug.

"I know." Cassidy smiled. Jessie had stopped playing with the necklace and sat back down on the bed.

"Well, I am going to go get a plate of hors devours for you two." Cassidy's mother said and took her wine glass in her hand and headed down the marble staircase.

"Cassie, is there pigs in a blanket?"

"I think so." Cassidy said.

"I hope your mommy brings some!" Jessie said excitedly and bounced on the bed. Cassidy turned the television on and started to go through the channels. "Wait, can we watch that?" Jessie asked and pointed to the television screen when she saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on one of the channels.

"Sure." Cassidy said and left it on for the hyper five year old.

"I'm back!" Cassidy's mother announced with a tray of food and two plates, some forks, napkins, and two glasses of milk.

"Yay!" Jessie cheered and watched her mother set the tray down on the bed.

"Now I want you to be very careful with the food on the bed, okay?" Her mother said more towards Jessie than Cassidy.

"We'll be careful, mom." Cassidy answered. Her mother smiled and left the room, leaving the two alone.

"Look, Jessie, she did get pigs in a blanket!" Cassidy exclaimed excitedly for Jessie. She put a few on her plate and Jessie began to eat them right away.

"How come whenever I come here I get milk?" Jessie complained.

"Because I doubt you get any at your house." Cassidy said.

"Yeah." Jessie said and continued to eat the various snacks that Cassidy's mother put together for them. She hadn't eaten since snack time in school, so she was very hungry. "Cassie, do you like taking care of me?" She asked honestly.

"If I didn't like it, then I wouldn't, Jessie." Cassidy replied carefully.

"Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Cassidy smiled. "You're like my little sister, so it's my job to look after you."

"I feel bad sometimes because you do a lot for me, but I can't do anything for you 'cause you're bigger."

"Don't worry about it, Jessie. When we're older, I'm sure you'll be able to do more things for me and make it up to me, if that's what you want." Jessie smiled and looked up at Cassidy.

"I do." She replied. "When I'm a doctor, a tree, and a famous actress, then I'll get you lots of things!"

"A tree?" Cassidy questioned. Jessie nodded.

"You always say that when I say what I wanna be when I grow up." She laughed.

"How about we get ready for bed now?" Cassidy asked after she saw Jessie yawn. Jessie nodded and went into the bathroom to use it and brush her teeth with the toothbrush she leaves at Cassidy's house. After Jessie emerged from the bathroom, Cassidy got ready. Jessie wanted to help, so she took off the tray of food and pushed it onto Cassidy's dresser. She was proud of herself when nothing spilled or fell. She climbed into the bed, followed by Cassidy who started to sing to Jessie. Cassidy's voice was the last thing she heard before she fell into a deep sleep.