Chapter 21! Whee!

The first rays of morning began to hit the desk Professor Samuel Oak was working at. "Oh my," the mild mannered professor exclaimed while saving his progress on his research. It was not uncommon for the aging man to work through meals and late into the night, but he had kept working on this particular night to avoid thinking of other things. He finally turned off the computer he was working on and began his ritual for getting to sleep. As he lay in bed, Professor Oak began to piece together the issue. As much as he hated the idea of using Pokemon in merciless fights that went to the death on occasion, he couldn't deny that the four youth seeking temporary shelter in his lab needed his aide. Tossing and turning, he attempted to come to the best conclusion.

--

"You think you can hide from me?" Domino questioned after releasing a deep laugh. "Precious Pallet Town with good old Professor Oak," she continued to muse, "too bad I have the upper hand in this deck," she finished while placing her hand on the intercom and calling for Jed. She grumbled to herself that the incompetent Rocket should have been able to find this information out on his own, but she knew time was too precious in such a situation to squabble over small details.

"Hello?" the freshly awaken Rocket groggily mumbled.

"Out of bed, slob," Domino greeted coldly. "It's time for a road trip to Pallet Town."

--

Tracey was the first to awaken in the lab, which was no surprise. He quietly made his morning rounds with the Pokemon before moving to the kitchen to begin breakfast. He fried bacon quickly and efficiently, while making potato cakes in another pan. Pleased with his work, he began to whisk eggs in a separate bowl. He didn't hear the shuffle of someone else entering the kitchen.

"Smells good," Cassidy noted while leaning against a wall. Tracey jumped at her sudden entrance and dropped one of the eggs he was working with on the floor, making a slippery mess on the linoleum."Oh, I'm sorry," Cassidy apologized moving toward the cabinet to grab a paper towel.

"Don't worry about it! This isn't the first time it's happened," he assured while picking up the pieces of eggshell off the floor. Noticing that Cassidy was limping in an attempt to refrain from moving her core muscles at all, Tracey couldn't help but comment. "I'll take care of it. Why don't you just sit down and work those muscles out slowly."

Cassidy offered a weak smile, forcing herself to understand that Tracey was trying to help, not call her useless. She let herself be ushered by Tracey back to a chair and watched as he sopped up the eggy mess on the floor.

Tracey pulled the rest of the potatoes and bacon off the stove top and put them in the oven to warm. He didn't know when everyone else would awaken, but he knew that Professor Oak always liked to eat with his guests, as he rarely had them. He put a napkin over the remaining eggs, because he knew he could cook those quickly. He noticed he was being observed. "You're never going to stretch those sore muscles out by gawking at me." He moved over behind her and placed her hands near the bandaged wound. "Feel how tense those muscles are? They're damaged and trying to repair themselves. Since it seems you need to be in the best physical shape you can, you need to do all you can to help them get stronger without damaging them further."

"Thank you," she mumbled uncomfortably. Although her action two nights ago seemed contradictory, she was very cautious about another man having his hand on her. Before meeting Butch, she had been in several abusive relationships and those thoughts often ran through her head. Trying to nonchalantly brush his hand off her abdomen, she offered him another small smile. "What would be best right now to help?"

"Hmm," Tracey contemplated, "keep in mind that I work with Pokemon, but just small exercises and movements are best. Try leaning over your lap while sitting to touch the floor. He scooted out Cassidy's chair so she could try it?.

Normally, Cassidy would laugh at the apparent simplicity of the action, but as her muscles contracted in her abdomen she let out a small grunt in pain. Not wanting to look weak, she continued to lean forward, biting her lip until she nearly drew blood.

"Don't kill yourself," Tracey advised while helping her sit straight up. "Maybe smaller movements like side bends?" He demonstrated the small movement at the waist and motioned for her to try. Cassidy made a small movement and contorted her face in the discomfort.

"Alright?" Tracey asked nervously.

"Yeah, just have to deal with the pain," she grunted between clenched teeth as she finished the movement. Proud of her slight accomplishment she showed him a real smile for the first time that morning. "See?"

Tracey nodded and laughed. "Yes, I do. But can you do it the other way and elongate those injured muscles?" He had debated challenging her, because he knew she would attempt it, but he couldn't help but offer the playful banter.

"Hmph," Cassidy grunted to him in disapproval and began to move slightly to the other side. Stretching the muscles hurt much worse than the other movement had, but her own stubbornness made her continue, until she felt that the damaged fibers would burst if she moved any further.

Tracey noticed her visible distress and moved to help her. "No, let me do it," she braced herself against the table and chair and tried to return to a sitting position. Her hand slipped from the tabletop and she tumbled to the floor. She didn't resist as Tracey wrapped his arms around her and returned her to the chair, but remained quiet, frustrated and nursing a massively injured sense of pride.

"I'm sorry," Tracey offered. "I shouldn't have egged you on like that."

Cassidy continued to sit motionless. The pain in her side was immense, that she barely noticed the blood oozing from her lip where she had bit when she hit the ground. She chose to ignore Tracey's presence next to her, but applied a wrapped ice cube to her lip where the swelling was beginning to form.

The young researcher scooted closer to the woman and gave her a hug the best he knew how. "You'll get it. Most people wouldn't even have the courage to try." Seeing that she wasn't buying his words, he continued. "It's true. You were shot yesterday, yet you walked in here by yourself this morning with no aide and held your own. You certainly don't have a full range of motion, but you're functioning."

The ex-Rocket rolled her eyes, "I'm functioning, but I'm barely doing so. I'm a pathetic excuse."

Tracey looked her in the eyes. "You are not an excuse. You're a strong and beautiful," he was in shock at himself 'did I just say that?' he thought, but he continued to try to play the slip of tongue off as a simple compliment, "young woman. You can't get down on yourself, because neither you nor your three partners cannot function without you. They'll cover for your injuries, but you have to meet them halfway."

Cassidy was coming up with a snappy comeback for the sappy speech but stopped mid-thought. This was about the same thing Butch had tried to tell her the night before. Maybe it was time she try to stop feeling sorry for herself and admit that she was physically limited for the time being. No one around her thought less of her or judged her about her condition but herself. She swallowed her pride and looked Tracey square in the eyes. "You're right," she agreed.

Tracey's eyes grew wide, "I am?" he questioned aloud without thought. "Well I mean, I meant what I said, but people usually don't listen to advice like that."

Cassidy smiled at his slight awkwardness. "You're a good guy, Tracey."

Jessie waltzed in the room and noticed the scene of the two sitting close together, "I should have known you would have used the pity card to get you anything," the redhead teased while sitting down on the opposite side of the table.

"Can it, Princess Jess," Cassidy snapped with the truthful and honest side she had just shown being replaced by her usual cool attitude.

"Women," Tracey mumbled while he moved toward the fridge to get something to drink.

I know it's short, but I just wanted to get Cassidy to a point where she wasn't being so whiney. More thanks to my wonderful beta, Thorned Rose and for her help in getting Cassidy to a point where I felt more comfortable with her! I'll move the plot along sometime, I'm sure laughs.

Hopefully I'll write more tonight. Hopefully...