Chapter Six
Knowledge.
The night had drawn in and the morning was teetering at the edge of dawn, ready to begin a new day. Dawn had thus passed out whilst Johanna drove her and Paul home. Her head pressed gently against the window, her mouth hanging open lightly and her eyelids flickering every time they went under a street lamp.
"You did a great job of getting Dawn to the Town Hall, Paul. I have no idea how you did it!" Johanna smiled, glancing up to her rearview to see him staring blankly out of his window. His mind had been elsewhere, his arm propped up on the arm rest, his curled fingers lightly holding up his chin as he fought his drowsiness.
"Thank you." He muttered, unable to process the words to expand further due to fatigue.
"Out of curiosity, how long do you think you'll be staying?" Johanna asked quietly, her eyes focussed on the road.
Paul bit his lip, did she want him to leave? He glanced to Dawn; "When she is ready."
They were quiet for a little while, and she finally pulled up outside the house.
Johanna smiled over her shoulder at Dawn's sleeping figure. "Will you wake her for me?"
"Of course." He placed a hand onto Dawn's shoulder and gently shook her.
"Dawn, sweetie. Go to bed." The mother cooed, and Dawn reacted just as calmly, her drowsy state keeping her in a light trance as she made her way to the front door and up the stairs without so much as a grumble. Paul watched in bewilderment, having assumed she would be the grumpy-if-woken type.
He slipped out his side of the car and offered a helping hand to carry the gifts from the trunk of the car to the house. Johanna smiled and passed him the lighter packages, but he slyly took a few heavy ones as well so as to help her more.
"I'm not outstaying my welcome, am I?" He asked suddenly, worried that he was becoming a nuisance.
Johanna looked a little flustered and surprised, it took her a few seconds to reply. "Heavens no, dear. You've been a big help."
He nodded shyly, placing the neatly wrapped parcels onto the floor by the television.
"In all honesty, I am thankful for you being here when she needed a friend. I didn't think I'd see her smile for a long while, I watched her on Ash and Brock's final days here. She smiled and laughed, but I saw the worry. It's hard for a mother to know there's nothing she can do to help, but you came along at exactly the right time, Paul. So thank you." She patted his shoulder and smiled.
Totally baffled by this unexpected speech from the woman he'd know but a few days, all he could muster up was a weak; "you're welcome."
"Go to bed, sweetie. You look exhausted." She ordered gently, pushing him just as lightly toward the stairs. He obeyed, his mind unable to do anything else, and shuffled up the stairs with a few trips and stumbles.
He had noticed Dawn was handling things a lot better than he'd expected. It had been less than a week and she was already smiling and laughing. He just assumed she had changed from that snivelling, over-bearing brat he'd met so long ago, grown up into a calm, collected young teenager who could handle her emotions admirably.
It had never once crossed his mind that it was his presence that was giving her this strength and control.
He slipped into the freshly-made bed, inhaling the sweet scent of clean linen and exhaling with pleasure.
Dawn was just in the other room. He could knock and go in, and ask her all the questions that plagued his mind.
But that idea only sparked off some more questions. Like why?
Why what? He added. Why do you need to go in there now? Why do these questions need answering?
Why do you care?
...Ahh.
You care.
The answer slapped him the face, and once it was apparent, many of his other questions were answered too.
Why had he felt such an ache when he'd spotted her at the port, crumpled up so?
I know what it feels like, I didn't want her to hurt like that too.
Why had he got off the ferry when he could have moved on with his life?
I care too much about her to walk away.
Why had he felt at ease the night after his loss to Ash?
Because she cared enough to ask if I was alright.
She stared at her ceiling, sleep not returning to her now she'd got into the warm comfort of her own bed. Maybe she could sneak back into the car and curl up there for the night.
No. It was not where she lay that kept her from forty winks, but the words she'd heard in her dozing state. She'd not been far enough out to have missed them.
He's staying here for me. She thought, rolling onto her side and staring at the wall that separated her from Paul. That's selfish of you, you should let him go.
She nodded to herself. Her mind made up, her eyes fixed on the gift ticket for the ferry.
She would not be selfish. Not when he'd already given her so much; time, patience, a helping hand when she was at her lowest... She owed him, and she would repay her debt.
It would hurt her, more so than she would like, but she had enough strength for it. She would be strong until he left. It was for the best.
She turned away from that wall that gave her so much guilt. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold back the water that seeped through her lids. Her body tensed into a ball until it gave up in exhaustion. Sleep would give her peace, if for one night only.
She slumped down the stairs, one stomp by another. Piplup sprang after her, unable to sense any other mood from it's trainer other than sleepiness.
Both her mother and Paul were already in the kitchen, the latter buttering a slice of toast while her mother fed Glameow and promised Piplup his was coming right up too.
"Morning." Paul said quietly, his eyes never leaving the toast. Dawn pursed her lips and nodded, unable to look at him either.
"What can I get you, sweetie?" Johanna asked as she placed a bowl of food down for Piplup.
"Nothing, thanks." Dawn muttered, placing her elbow on the table and flopping her head against it. Both Johanna and Paul looked up and stared at her, surprised by this mood. She had left them the night previously on a high, before she'd passed out in the car. Her party had been a success, and she hadn't stopped grinning from beginning to end.
"Are you feeling well?" Johanna asked, placing her hand onto her daughter's forehead and assessing the heat that radiated into her palm.
Dawn rolled her head away. "Yes, fine thank you."
Johanna looked to Paul, who was staring at Dawn with curiosity, he too was confused by this turn in attitude from the usually bubbly girl.
Maybe she's rebounding from the high she was on last night. His mind suggested, but his gut told him this was something more. Something he should worry about.
"Are you up for training today?" Paul asked quietly, watching very carefully for her expression. It didn't flicker from it's blankness, and she merely nodded, slipping out of the chair and wandering back up the stairs. Even Piplup glanced up from its food bowl in confusion. His trainer had never been this quiet.
Johanna, who had been watching right until Dawn disappeared up the stairs, whipped around to face Paul in a frantic panic. Paul just shrugged.
"I'll go check on her." He said, walking past the fretting mother and following Dawn up the stairs. She was probably getting dressed, so he lay his weight against the wall beside her door and waited.
It took her a few minutes, but she soon exited her bedroom and started at him being so close.
"What's wrong?" He asked the obvious, hoping to get a straight answer.
"Nothing." She insisted. Of course he wouldn't get an answer. That would be too easy. No, he had to play the guess what the female is thinking game, which was next to impossible to win unless it were to do with shopping.
"What's your problem then?"
"There isn't one." She said just as evenly, her eyes narrowing as she started down the stairs.
He managed to catch her before she reached the bottom, pinning her by the wall by placing one arm in her way.
"You're not a brilliant liar yourself, you know." He informed her, raising an eyebrow.
"Well now you've found one thing we have in common. Congrats." She commented wryly, though her face was a blank as ever.
She was more animated when she was asleep in the car. He smirked at the way her mouth puckered as she snored ever so gently, but he could tease her about that later.
"Do you want to train, because we should go before it gets dark." She slipped under his arm and made for the door. He looked over his shoulder, and then hurried after her.
"It's barely even light..." He rolled his eyes, closing the house door behind him.