Author's Note: Story doesn't take place in either the game or manga universe(s). It takes place more in our world but in a city called Sinnoh with different streets named after the cities from the game.

Characters' ages: Cynthia (19, going on 20); Dawn (just turned 14).

Disclaimer: Pokemon is published and owned by Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri. I own nothing but the computer this story was typed up on and the account that posts it.

"I can't believe I am going to be leaving my daughter behind," a middle aged bluenette said with a sigh. She gave a gentle shake of her head as she continued to help packing her daughter's things.

"I'll be fine, mom," a girlish voice insisted from the closet.

A fourteen year old girl walked out of the closet carrying two arm-fulls of clothes. The girl's face couldn't be seen over the pile of skirts and shirts. Her gait was shaky as she walked back to her bed, using only memory of its general location. Once her knee bumped the bed, she flung the clothes out all over the bed.

Her mother shook her head as she closed a bag.

"You get them so wrinkly when you fling them about like that."

The girl waved her mother off. "They'll be fine. Besides I'm just gonna stuff them into a couple of suitcases so they'll get wrinkly one way or another." Her cheery smile spread across her face as she began to stuff shirts in.

"Not if you'd just pack them right they wouldn't." The mother reached out her hand and took the bag away from her daughter. She took out all of the clothes, and began to fold them before putting them back in. After the third shirt and second skirt, she stopped. Looking at the teen girl, she handed her a shirt. "Now fold it just as I did, Dawn."

The girl gave a loud sigh as she took the shirt. Their last day together - probably their last hour together - before their rides came to pick them both up and take them away to separate places with a great distance between them. Not much longer for them to be together, and her mother just had to give one last ridicule of how she treated her clothes. It sucked sometimes to be the only child to such a successful fashion designer. Sure, fame and quite a bit of money was grand. Yet, such a nagging mother could be so bothersome.

Dawn stopped packing when that thought hit her.

Her mother really could be such a nag sometimes, but still she allowed her daughter to stay in the city she called home and be with her friends instead of packing her up and moving her all the way across seas. She was allowing Dawn to stay with a trusted family friend - someone who had once been Dawn's babysitter. She could have just as easily told her she was leaving with her. Giving it no second thought and no chance for argument. Johanna had chosen to take her daughter's feelings into consideration. She was going to let her daughter remain where her heart called home, for the girl's own personal happiness.

A nag she may be a times, but a good mother she always was.

"Thanks, mom," Dawn whispered out before she realized the words had reached her tongue.

Johanna smiled.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to force you into this, so I won't." The woman finished another suitcase of clothes. "You are my only daughter. My greatest treasure and joy; I want you to be happy. If that happiness comes with staying with a college girl and going to school with all the 'normal' kids then you will get that serenity."

Dawn giggled at her mother's words.

"I still can't believe you're letting me stay with Cynthia of all people."

Johanna folded a shirt. "As long as she keeps her hands to herself I don't see any reason not to." The woman's face was devoid of any humor in that comment. This of course confused Dawn as the true meaning of those words went over her head. Why wouldn't Cynthia keep her hands to herself? The girl shrugged it off, and put the last skirt away.

A knock came at the bedroom door. Both Berlitz females looked up to the doorway. There stood a tall and lean nineteen year old girl with long blonde hair, a strand of which hung over her eye. She gave a charming smile at the bluenettes, slightly bowing respectfully. As she strolled into Dawn's former room, it became apparent she was carrying something behind her back with both hands. When she stood before Johanna she pulled out one hand holding a bouquet of pink and white roses. Johanna took the flowers whereas Dawn frowned at not having received a gift. Cynthia winks at the girl. Fast as a flash, Dawn suddenly finds red roses sited directly under her nose. She takes a startled step backwards. Her face flushes bright red once she realizes what had happened.

"'A woman should always be greeted with flowers, showing them how beautiful you find them'," Cynthia quoted. When Dawn took the flowers from her, she placed her hands on her hip. Her charming smile exhibited upon her sharper features. "I read that somewhere. I think it was a beauty magazine, or maybe a greeting card." She gave a shrug rather than continue to think over it. "So how are my two favorite blue-haired bluebloods?"

"We're fine," Dawn hastily answered before hiding her blushing face within her roses. She didn't know why she had suddenly blurted out like that just after the question. It was embarrassing.

Johanna smiled, giving another shake of her head at her daughter's antic.

"We were just finishing packing."

"Really? Cool, I don't have to help pack anything then." Cynthia's smile widened as she prepared to lay back and relax while the Berlitz family twosome finished.

"You won't have to pack anything, Cynthia," Johanna confirmed. "You will be to busy packing up that sports car of yours since you were so late getting her to help us. You'll need lots of luck trying to get all of these bags in that car."

Cynthia gave a frown at what she figured was an insult to her Gablias, a navy blue Lamborghini with a yellow star on the hood and red and yellow stripes down the bottom of the sides of the car. It was Cynthia's pride and joy; her baby. The thing was a monster of a machine, damn near as fast as a jet plane - in her opinion. There was no reason to point out the lack of baggage space in the car. It wasn't made for carrying kids to and from soccer practice or any other minivan tasks. It's job was to look awesome, drive fast, and get the attention of pretty girls. And it did a damn good job at that.

"No hating on the car," Cynthia warned as she picked up the nearest bags before heading back towards the door.

"You had better drive like a little old lady when you have my daughter in that death machine."

"No worries. I'll drive just like my own grandmother."

Cynthia smiled as she turned her back to the middle aged woman. What Johanna of course didn't know was that Professor Carolina was a worse driver than herself. Now, any car in which that woman was behind the wheel was certainly a 'death machine'. Who did she think had taught her to drive? Her baby sister, barely Dawn's age? Arceus help the world when that kid got old enough to drive. Ambulances would need to be on regular call, hourly to save all the people that bubble brain was sure to hit.

Moments later, the car was packed full of Dawn's thing. Cynthia lay draped across her car's hood, exhausted. It had been a miracle that she was able to get all that stuff packed away. Sure she was a little late, but the others could have helped her even a little bit. She grumbled to herself. Just how many things did Dawn really need to bring with her? She was only staying over for two or three months. Surely, this was over packing, just a little bit. Cynthia heard footsteps coming towards her. She straightened herself up to be presentable to whichever Berlitz bluenette it was. She glanced over her shoulder: Dawn.

The fourteen year old smiled up at her with that beaming grin.

"All set!"

Cynthia brushed the hair out of the way of her left eye, only to have it fall back in place. She smiled back at the girl.

"Ready when you are," she said, motioning to the car. "Maybe we could stop for ice cream along the way. Pick up a couple of movies and some junk food, and have a party. What do you say, kiddo?"

Almost instantly the girl's face light up.

"Really?!"

"Sure. I'm running kind of low on food anyway so I could use a stop."

The sound of a throat being cleared was heard. Cynthia looked up to see Johanna standing at the doorway. Her expression was one of business, stern and serious. That look was directed straight at Cynthia. It was clear she wanted to talk about the arrangements of Dawn's stay. Most likely to clear up any certain rules the girl was suppose to follow when her mother wasn't around. Rules that still needed to be followed even in the company of the lax blonde.

"Go ahead and get in the car, Dawn," Cynthia said motioning to the car. She gave the her a smirk as she walked over to the girl's mother. "Just gotta clear up the rules with your mom, alright?"

"Gotcha!"

What followed was the slamming of the car door.

Cynthia winced.

"Not so hard! She's a delicate angel, kid. Treat her gently."

Johanna cut in with, "I hope you apply that same logic to my little angel."

Cynthia turned back to the woman, giving the bluenette her full attention. "Of course I will. Why wouldn't I?" She really didn't understand how Johanna could begin to think Cynthia wouldn't treat her good? It should be public knowledge that Cynthia was nothing short of a gentlewoman to all peoples, most importantly the ladies. She was always extra gentle with the ladies. She smiled on the inside at her own double entendre.

Johanna's expression turned to one of mixed shame and worry.

"It's not that I don't trust you treating her well, Cynthia." She stopped, looking away from the young woman's face. She was unable to make eye contacted, the blonde noted. "It's just," another stall as she tried to find the right worried. "I know I shouldn't have any worry about this. I mean, you've shown Dawn no such interest, and you've been nothing but up front about your…Your…"

The blonde crossed her arms over her chest, frowning before finishing the woman's statement for her.

"Lesbianism."

Cynthia didn't ask to see if that was the word the older woman was looking for. She knew it was.

Her first instinct was hostility that the Johanna was singling out her sexuality as a possible threat to her daughter's well-being. Those feelings vanished the second after when logic set in. Of course the woman would worry about that. Why wouldn't she? Johanna would have asked the same question if Dawn was moving in with a guy for a few months. It was the same situation, just different parts. The mother was just looking out for her daughter's safety, not applying mistrust based on her sexual preference.

If prejudice had been the case, she wouldn't have agreed to Dawn's suggestion to let her stay with Cynthia. No, more than that. She wouldn't have let Cynthia continue to be the girl's babysitter a few years back. Cynthia had approached the woman after fully understanding her own 'interests'. She felt it right to let the woman know directly from her rather then let her hear about Cynthia dating a girl from someone else. It was the civil thing to do. Johanna had naturally been skeptical of letting Cynthia continue her job of looking after Dawn while she was away for the night. The fact that she let her keep her job was sign of a trust that Cynthia treasured and never broke.

Nothing would let her violate that silent agreement between her and Johanna. Especially not now that the agreement was no longer silent.

"I would never do anything to hurt, Dawn."

Johanna nodded.

"I don't even feel that way for her. She's cute and all." Cynthia smirked when Johanna looked up at her at the purposeful pause. "In a little sister kind of way. Hell, she's basically my second little sister. That's what it feels like to me."

Cynthia looked over her shoulder to her car. Dawn was lightly dancing to some music on the radio. Both women smiled at the sight of innocence. Cynthia shook her head, frowning when she heard what kind of music it was. She would seriously have to teach the girl what real music sounded like over the next few weeks.

The blonde turned back to the girl's mother.

"There's no reason for you to worry about me trying anything with Dawn. I already have a girlfriend." Another pause and smirk at the woman's lack of humor. "And Dawn's not my type. I like younger girls, but maybe only one or two. Not five or six. She barely a teenager for Arceus' sake."

A breath of relief escaped Johanna's lips.

"Hearing you say that does put my needlessly worrying mind to ease, Cynthia. I trust you with her full safety over the next three months. I expect you to take full care of her," the woman stated for good measure. "Without question."

A sudden loud honk was heard, startling both women. They hurriedly looked back at the car. Dawn pulled back her hand from pressing on the steering wheel. With that beaming smile she waved to them both. Johanna frown and Cynthia smirked at the childish antic.

"Any strict rules I can over enforce as punishment for the little monster?" Cynthia asked, expectantly.

The woman shook her head, though she returned Cynthia's smile.

"Nothing too important. But if you think of something just don't make it too strict."

"Strict enough to make her squirm at least?"

"Of course," Johanna replied with a light laugh.

Cynthia reached her hand out for Johanna to take. "Thank you for trusting me with your daughter's well-being. I promise to keep her safe no matter what, and not make any moves on her." Yet another pause to annoy the woman. "She's in good hands, I promise you."

Johanna took the hand, smiling.

"I have no doubt that you will. Thank you for promising to look after her in the first place."

Cynthia walked back towards her car. She gave one last glance over her shoulder before getting into her own car. She pulled the door closed, hard enough to close it but not hard enough to take it break the glass like Dawn had done. She looked at Dawn, frowning.

"Now that's how you close a damn door."

Dawn pouted. "You two sure had a lot of rules to go over."

Cynthia shook her head, as she turned on the car. She looked in the rearview mirror before pulling out into the root. "Nope, just one rule and it isn't for you." Out of the corner of her eye she could see the confusion in Dawn's eyes. A smirk grazed her sharp features once more as she pressed her foot on the gas. The car lurched forward at a blinding speed. Cynthia heard three things all at once: the roar of the engine, Dawn's excited squeal, and Johanna's distance yelling of her, 'to slow down, damn it'.

Over looking one little warning, this looked to be the beginning of a amusing few months to both Dawn and Cynthia.