Hello, and chapter 9 it is! I don't really know what I think of this one. It is a bit of a filler, and has some fluffiness; good combination no?

Haha, anyway, enjoy! :)


Chapter 9: Closer

The next week went rather routinely. Colress arrived and Ghetsis was once again very busy. White still hadn't met Colress, but she wasn't in any hurry to, as Team Plasma's motives still angered her. Ghetsis and Colress worked almost nonstop, however they still couldn't do a wide range of things without Zinzolin who was scheduled to arrive the next week. So after a few days, things calmed back down, and Ghetsis was able to spend more time with White again.

She still hadn't made up her mind about how she felt about spending time with him. She enjoyed it, and that scared her, but she also still felt vaguely uncomfortable around him because, one- he was still the leader of an evil organization, and two- he had strong feelings for her, that she still didn't return, though she did have to admit she was starting to enjoy their hugs more. It was now routine for them to have a short embrace before bed, and Ghetsis was thrilled by this fact.

Other than that, nothing was changing.

White woke up on the third week of the fourth month of her stay with Ghetsis. She still couldn't believe she had been there for only four months, as it felt like she had lived in that castle for an eternity. She walked down to see Concordia and Anthea just like she did every day. She now left her Pokémon with them overnight, so they could get some time out of their balls. She had decided that soon she would have the Pokémon sleep in her room, she just needed to convince a grunt or two to remove a giant dresser that Ghetsis had in there, and she would have room for all of her Pokémon, aside from Reshiram that is.

"Good morning guys" she said, addressing both Anthea and Concordia and her Pokémon. She was met with a chorus of good mornings, some in English and some in Pokémon.

She realized there was a female grunt sitting at a table across the room and smiled at her. She still hadn't made one friend with any grunts that were girls so she decided to try again.

"Hi" she said walking over to the grunt, "My name is White, it's nice to meet you" she gave the grunt her hand and a wide smile.

The female looked her up and down with a frown and huffed before standing up and walking away, rudely pushing away White's hand in the process. White frowned and turned to Concordia.

"Why don't any of the women grunts like me?" she asked, wondering if it was something she had said.

Concordia chuckled, "They're jealous" she said with a smile, while brushing some crumbs off of a table.

"Jealous?" White questioned, her eyebrows raised. "Why on Earth are they jealous?"

Anthea answered this time, "Well, any of the female grunts would literally kill to have Ghetsis be as infatuated with them as he is you" she said with a smile.

"And" Concordia started, "you don't like him back, so they think he is wasting his time with you when he could be with one of them"

"Oh, so that's why" White said, sitting in a chair. She realized she probably should have been irritated at what Concordia said about Ghetsis wasting his time on her but she was just relived that it wasn't her personality pushing them away.

"So Ghetsis is that high in demand huh?" she asked, never picturing him to be someone that women gushed over.

"In Team Plasma he is anyway" Anthea said, "I mean, he is a king"

White nodded, it was understandable. She looked up at the sisters and remembered a question she meant to ask for a while now.

"So where's N" White asked.

Concordia sighed, "He's off finding himself I guess" she sounded sad, "N was hit pretty hard that day and it might be a while before he returns" she said.

White realized they still saw N as a brother, even if Ghetsis had basically disowned him as his son. She frowned, feeling sorry for N.

"But he's a tough cookie, so I think he'll be fine." Anthea said with a smile.

White nodded and stood up, walking out of the room. She had the day to herself once again, so she did what she always did when she wasn't training Pokémon; she explored the castle. She had to admit it was quiet impressive, it had to have over three hundred rooms, all lavishly decorated. She hoped she wouldn't run into Colress. She was dreading when Zinzolin came back; she had met the Sage before and didn't want to go through the process of meeting him again. She made her way to the far side of the castle, the part that was most isolated and the place she hadn't looked at much.

When she discovered a new room she would look like a kid in a candy store, peeking in jars, opening drawers. There were old relics all over the castle and White wondered exactly how old and how valuable they were. She finally reached a room with a closed door. She frowned; there usually were very few closed doors in the castle, mostly because Ghetsis wanted to make sure nothing sneaky was going on.

She lightly twisted the doorknob and peeked in. It looked almost exactly like her room so she figured it was a guest room, and she realized someone was in the bed. She was about to shut the door so they could continue to sleep when she saw green and realized it was Ghetsis. Her eyes widened and she walked in.

Ghetsis turned his head to look at her as she walked in. The reality of the situation was that he was sick, and simply wanted some time alone, though the person in the room currently could stay for as long as she liked if it was up to him.

"Are you okay?" White asked with a hint of concern. Ghetsis never slept during the day and at night he probably only slept for about four hours and then went back to work.

"I'm fine White" he said softly.

She scrunched her eyebrows together and frowned, looking at Ghetsis who now looked rather weak.

"You're sick aren't you?" she asked, a smile on her face now. She knew she shouldn't be smiling, but it was almost ironic to see someone so powerful in such a weak state.

"Pssshhht, I'm not sick" Ghetsis said, propping himself up, trying to look normal.

"Yes you are; would you like me to go get Anthea and Concordia?" she asked.

Ghetsis widened his eyes, "NO" he said in a loud voice. White jumped and looked at him skeptically.

"Why do you think I'm in a guest room?" he asked.

She gave him a confused look.

He sighed, "They are more hazard than help when a person is sick, not a Pokémon" he said smiling, "Plus, I don't like having people fuss over me" he said with a shiver, remembering the last time had been ill, about five years ago, and Anthea and Concordia had been unbearable.

"So you are trying to get away from them?" White questioned, amused by the fact Ghetsis was trying to run away from someone.

He nodded and smiled. White frowned. Her mother had always told her that if someone was sick it was vital for them not to be alone.

White sighed as her mothering instincts kicked in and walked over to put the back of her hand on Ghetsis' forehead.

He lightly groaned at the pleasure of her touch but she didn't notice. She pulled her hand back and frowned.

"You are burning up, are you sure you don't want them to help you, it would be a lot more comfortable" she said eyeing him.

"NO" he again said in a stern voice. In all honesty he just simply had too much pride to let someone help him.

White frowned further.

"I'll go get a thermometer" she said, quickly walking out of the room before he could protest.

He growled, not too happy at the fact that he was going to be taken care of, he just hoped to Arceus that she didn't tell the sisters he was sick. He felt a smile creep onto his face after a while though, White was going to take care of him, and for some reason he felt jittery at the notion.

Soon she walked back through the door, looking carefully at something in her hand.

"I'm not sure if they gave me the one for humans or for Pokémon but I think we should give it a try anyway" she said, taking the thermometer out of its case. She hadn't ever taken care of anyone before and she didn't really know what she was doing, but pretended like she did, trying to remember what her mother had done and said when she was sick.

"Here" she said, handing it to him. He eyed her carefully as he took the thermometer and stuck it in his mouth. She sat down in a chair across the room, looking at the clock, waiting for the one and a half minute mark to come. She glanced back at Ghetsis who was looking at the ceiling. She watched his eye move around and wondered what was under the mysterious eyepiece covering the other. She glanced back up at the clock and realized it was time. She walked over and took it out of his mouth.

"Woah, 103, yup you're sick" she said, sighing.

He looked over at her, wondering what she was going to do. White honestly didn't know. She tapped her foot, wondering whether or not to help him, but when she looked over at Ghetsis, looking so weak, she gave in.

"Alright get up" she said. His eyes widened.

"What?" he asked, not wanting to get out of the comfortable bed.

She smiled at how innocent and helpless he looked. "Come on" she said, lightly tugging on his hand.

"Do I have to?" he whined, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, now get up!" she tugged harder and he finally obliged to getting out of bed.

"Jeez, this is no way to treat someone who is sick" Ghetsis said in a joking tone. Over the past two weeks alone, Ghetsis and White had gotten so they were causal around each other, and could joke around; even though White didn't know it was possible for Ghetsis to have a lighter side.

"Tough love buddy" she said, not really paying attention to what they were saying.

He sat down in the chair she had been in and he felt his heart rate quicken. She had said tough love, meaning that she loved him; at least he thought so anyway. Normally he would have been overcome with an urge to kiss her but right now he felt so bad his brain wasn't quite working right. She moved around quickly, flipping pillows, adding blankets.

Once she was done she turned back to him, "Alright, all done"

He climbed back in and closed his eyes, suddenly tired.

"Thank you sweetheart" he said in a silky voice.

She disregarded it and walked over to his side putting a damp cold washcloth on his head.

"Now, you need to eat something, what would you like?" she asked.

He groaned, "I'm good"

She frowned, "Come on, what do you want?"

"Nothing" he said stubbornly. He was making this hard for her and he liked it; but she knew how to make him cave.

She sighed, not wanting to take advantage of him but figured it was for his own good.

"Please tell me" she said, widening her eyes and sticking out her lower lip slightly.

Ghetsis' heart melted and he gave in instantaneously, "Fine, chicken noodle soup"

She smiled, "Coming right up"

The rest of the day went on like that. Ghetsis wouldn't admit to it but he was in heaven having her fuss over him. White on the other hand was starting to regret offering to take care of him. Finally it was nighttime and she gently tucked him in. She felt like she was caring for a child and was starting to get weary, wondering how her mother had done it.

Ghetsis was obviously very sick and was exhausted from trying to stay awake all day. She had told him to go to sleep but he didn't want to waste one second with her.

"Can I have a hug?" he asked, again humiliated by having to ask.

She sighed and nodded. She leaned forward and once again wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to breathe in as she didn't want to get sick too.

He was as docile as a kitten again in her grasp and he gave into it. He wanted to pull backwards a little, because that would send her sprawling onto the bed to be on top of him, but disciplined himself not to.

"Goodnight sicky" she said in a joking voice.

He chuckled, "Goodnight love"

She turned off the lights and left the room with a smile on her face. She didn't know why but when he called her 'love' her heart started picking up pace, it had never done that before. She figured it was just because she had taken care of him that day and felt like a mother to him. She smiled lightly.

Ghetsis was also smiling, snuggling down into bed; sniffing the pillow that still smelled like her. She was like a drug to him, and he couldn't get enough. But he soon realized she was also sort of like a medicine. He now felt a lot better, just because of her hug, and he realized she was fixing him, slowly but surely; but what he didn't realize was that she was fixing him in more ways than one.


A/N: Well there it is! I hope you liked it. Next one should be up on Friday. Thank you guys for all of the lovely and kind reviews! They always make my day just that much better! :)

Have a great Wednesday! :)