Hello! It is no longer Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. I did start reading this through and editing it yesterday during the day and then I went out. When I returned home late, I actually ended up writing something else instead of uploading this! But it's finally here. I wrote it a year ago now which I can't believe. Because of that, it required quite a few alterations. The story remained in tact though. It's about Jayden and Katie's sweet teenage relationship and including more insight into her little sister, Jessika's character too! I hope you enjoy :)

Ages:

Jayden: 19

Jessika: 8

Katie: 16

Misty: 34

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

"How are you with carrying glasses, Pikachu?" a teenager with dual toned hair pushed a strand of his straightened locks from his eyes after he had finished washing up and asked me, two sparkling glasses growing closer to me as I sat on the side. "I know you'll be fine. But make sure the orange juice goes in them and not in your belly!"

He had possessed a slight mischievous grin on his face. It caused the glasses not to be the only glittering object as I mirrored his grin. Then Jayden laughed, handing them over to me properly before adding.

Then with that, Jayden chuckled to himself all the more while I remained quiet but not rudely so. I merely continued smirking and managed to jump down from the counter top in the Ketchum residence and with a glass in either hand!

Following that, I headed out towards the garden patio while Jayden placed the orange juice and lemonade for me to collect on my way back. Then he resumed what he was doing.

A lingering sweetness on his face and in his meadow green orbs, a towel hanging from the rail was grabbed and he proceeded to intend to dry up the rest of the watery and slightly bubbly cutlery before he did anything else.

I could gage that Jayden felt almost as home as back in the Morgan household. When I returned back to him doing the same chore and me having just put the two glasses on the outside table, I found the corners of my eyes creasing.

It was always wonderful to see two young people pair up in the way that Jayden and Katie had officially done in recent months. And it was even better to see the effort put in to show everyone – and that special person of course – that those feelings were only growing ever stronger.

I hopped back onto the counter top next to the teenage boy, trying to keep the inner warmth for myself and just in my eyes if I had to in case he thought I was laughing at him, rather than basking in the joy that he had started to feel during his relationship with his sweetheart.

That smile was harder and harder to conceal and attach just to the eyes when I couldn't help but look backwards as well as focus on the present moment. Those eyes of mine had widened when Jayden wanted to borrow the Ketchum family kitchen for the evening to cook dinner for he and his girlfriend before they could dine together in the warm spring evening of Kanto. But then I had to remind myself, not everybody was as clueless as my best friend was at that age!

And I had to remember that he was the child of none other than Jessie and James. And first and foremost, he was the son of James Morgan who always used to come with a single red rose in hand!

I chuckled softly myself but again thankfully, Jayden didn't seem to notice. I was elated to see so many different people and so many different relationships. I levitated all the more so at the two youngsters to start their first ever relationship together and enjoy the simple and innocent parts of a growing love. It took me back to when Ash and Misty were that age. And it took me forwards also, wondering what the future Jayden and Katie could entail.

However for the time being, I'm sure you can agree that it was the present moment that was important. And since the lad in my company had finished washing up cooking items that he himself hadn't even used, let alone messed up – he could crack on with the actual aim of the kitchen time. The food!

A little wooden crate box that had brought along from another home was approached. Jayden reached for the veggies first, placing them on the chopping board that he had already fetched from one of the cupboards. I'd have rather liked to stay and observe and ponder but I headed off yet again and with my paws full, that time with the carton of orange juice and the plastic bottle of lemonade.

I still allowed my mind to wander though, musing that perhaps it wasn't going to be in safe hands like I had been teased! And it wasn't because I wanted either of them to be in my belly. They were rather heavy and to tell you the truth, my limbs had grown weary from my jump with the ornate glasses.

Nonetheless, I persevered and I prevailed! And I was rewarded for my valiant effort by a good old head rub when I returned. I was most humbled because it meant that he had to wash his hands all over again before chopping the vegetables.

"I do appreciate you helping me out, Pikachu." The well-mannered teenage boy told me with words although his actions proved this as well. After he had finished affectionately touching me and his hands were being rubbed dry with a tea towel, he added, warmth glowing on his features. "I really hope that Katie is going to like. It will be nice eating here rather than at mine."

My head bobbed in spite of the fact that following the first part of his words, I wasn't sure if he was still talking to me or had switched to talking to himself. It was all the more ambiguous from the way that he had wandered off to put the tea towel back neatly on the rack.

However, he soon returned and he wandered back to me and I got the impression that his words had intended to be for me after all from the way that, after he had caught on to my eyes curiously wandering towards the crate that he had brought along with him, he moved over to that instead.

Wordlessly at first, his own head bowed and his hands moved over to an oval shaped dish covered in tin foil. This gesture continued all the more before he spoke, a shakier grin on his expression, contrasting the one that had previously taken place.

"I prepared this earlier. I didn't want to take up too much time in a kitchen that isn't my own!" Jayden explained to me and before I could shake my head, with a wordless insinuation that he could read, he used his hands to peel the tin foil away from what appeared to be a homemade pie of some sort and picked up the dish entirely. "Thanks for reminding me. This can probably go in around now."

And with that, Jayden forgot about peeling and preparing the other vegetables on the chopping board for the time being and he switched to balancing the pie dish in just one of his hands. Then he used the other to reach down to the oven directly below where he was standing, switching the heat up to almost the highest temperature.

Instead of watching all of his mundane actions like looking around for oven gloves for later on and actually putting the vegetable pie in the oven, I found myself feeling flushed and it wasn't from the heat of cooking! I obviously wasn't as subtle with my actions as I had always believed. He had caught me glancing over at everything that he had brought from his own home.

But I didn't have to worry – or feel heat rising within his own being. Jayden had thanked me. And so I recovered quickly enough and I went back to watching him, a sensation of ease in my heart.

I rarely took for granted the mundane parts of life because they were not mundane in the slightest to me. In actuality, some of my favourite moments occurred in the everyday. And it didn't surprise me in the slightest because I held the company of those in my life equally as dearly.

However, unbeknownst to me and unbeknownst to the other male in the kitchen, there was somebody else who was evidently – in their own way – wanting to be part of our company as well. But it took us both a good few moments to catch on. And it wasn't until someone else spoke entirely that any of this came to our attention.

You see, as the teenage boy finally went back over to the small potatoes and the green beans and the carrots and the baby corn that he had abandoned on the chopping board. He had begun to wash all of these vegetables by running them under the tap when another voice could suddenly be heard.

It wasn't one that escaped from my own throat. And it wasn't Jayden's because he wasn't the type to muse to himself. It wasn't Katie either, coming down from her bedroom, growing restless and curious as to what exactly her boyfriend was preparing them both in the family kitchen. And the radio was not the culprit, though that had been humming and singing along the whole time that we were in the kitchen.

It was someone else entirely. It was Misty. Yet she too had fondness in her voice as she spoke and you could tell that she was trying to swallow her laughter.

"Will you stop spying, you?" amusement glittered her tone and needless to say, this captured all attention immediately. Jayden appeared alarmed by the specific words and it wasn't until he craned his body around that things became clearer. "Stop spying, you. Leave the boys alone."

And because the both of us had rotated our bodies to where the voice was coming from the doorway, we saw the orange haired mother plant her hands on either one of her child's shoulders and draw them lightly closer to her. Misty felt Jessika falling closer to her. And then the top of the raven girl's head felt the company of a loose hand.

Straight away, the young girl reacted. Though I could tell that her own pale cheeks turned rosy pink and it wasn't because of the heat from the kitchen either, she shook her head and she moved away from her mother, not stopping herself from insisting.

In between watching and listening, I briefly caught Jayden's eyes and saw they were wide as plates that there apparently had been someone watching closely.

"I am not spying!" retorted Jessika and the way that the young girl's freckle decorated nose screwed up showed just how appalled she was by that accusation and that word. In fact, she then blushed harder and so much so that her facial decorations of freckles and zig-zag marks almost became invisible. "I was just watching."

She managed not to stamp her foot as she turned around, looking up at Misty.

"Well don't! Come on, I thought you were perfectly happy in the other room and playing with your little sister." Misty shook her head fondly and spoke airily in the face of her stubborn child and managed to keep her gaze just on her. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't realise that she was being protective of her other sister."

Mother and daughter's stances were then facing each other as the older of the two spoke words for the rest of us as well.

And switching up from what had happened a couple of moments before, it was my turn to see things transparently as they occurred while Jayden needed a little while to catch up! I stopped focusing so heavily and so fondly on the second to youngest Ketchum daughter and shared a knowing look with Misty before I switched that glance over to Jayden instead.

But he was none the wiser! I didn't even feel his gaze. At first, he merely smiled politely at everything that was going on and turned the tap off; shaking his hands dry of the water instead of reaching for the tea towel all over again.

But then as Jessika's features continued to be crumpled paper – and as Jayden remained shaking his hands dry – it was like he shook some sense into himself. He suddenly understood what Misty's words meant.

Jayden's cheeks then matched the flush of his hair but it was out of gentle fondness and flattery. Nevertheless, before he could move his body away from being near the counter top and he could move more towards the centre of the kitchen before approaching Jessika, reassuring her that her one and only eldest sister was in safe hands with him, he was interjected entirely.

It was true that she could be as innocent and naïve sometimes as her father but no doubt did she catch on to what the older ones were wordlessly conveying! Trying to stop her nose from screwing up even further and not stamping her foot all over again, Jessika turned back around to face forwards and the words came tumbling out of her mouth.

"I'm not protective!" she hotly insisted and while Jayden's eyelashes clapped together again at her outburst and Misty was beginning to find her rashness a little more out of place rather than adorable, the child herself had a moment or two to think about her words. Or so we thought. "I'm not protective. I like to cook too. And he's doing it wrong!"

I for one had believed that her brief silence was mulling over the fact that she might have been protective over Katie after all. It certainly wouldn't have been unheard of!

But it was there and then that Misty and I joined the teenage boy in having plates for eyes. And as well as this, the three of us started to fill our gaze with each other. But still we didn't have a chance to say anything, and neither Misty nor I had the chance to outwardly disagree with Jessika's behaviour because she shot forward to the middle of the kitchen to join her sister's boyfriend.

As she did this, her arm shot outwards, gesturing towards the oven.

"You didn't pre heat it! If you've gone to the effort of making that for my sister, why are you doing it wrong now?" she questioned with pale turquoise orbs that travelled up towards Jayden but her gaze faltered when Misty breathed out her name as a gentle warning. "I'm only trying to help!"

As Jessika vehemently stood her ground, the rest of us in the room went silent while the kitchen went against us. The water tank in the cupboard bubbled and brewed from having only just been used. The radio continued humming and belting and blaring. That oven – that pesky and offensive oven that was cooking the vegetable pie much too early – rattled and droned away.

But the rest of us in the room went silent. Even Jessika decided to too, her eyes then shuffling in between all of us, understanding within herself that she meant no harm.

I decided to occupy my sight with the silhouette of Jayden. Since being called out to much and being called plain and simply "wrong", the temperature of his cheeks had increased! I saw him scratch that burning cheek of his.

The eight year old girl wasn't the only stubborn soul in that room. But Jayden couldn't deny himself of the innocence of his girlfriend's little sister. He couldn't ignore that it did seem to be coming from a good place.

So before Misty could give her daughter a proper warning or she could dart off in frustration that she had only tried to help but her intentions had been misguided, Jayden let air out of his nostrils and he went down on one knee in front of the girl.

"Well… To tell you the truth, I wanted to hurry all of this up and I didn't want to be cheeky and overstay my welcome in your parent's kitchen." Jayden half mumbled an explanation but truthfully all the same and straight away, Misty was the one to soften and she quickly waved a hand, to which I understood why. "…and I am pretty hungry."

Jayden had taken the time to glance at her appreciatively and flash a grin but maybe he should have hurried up and said more words. It would have hidden what came next! Jessika and found ourselves sharing a look as his stomach then let out a low and long growl.

Misty's soft and fond glances switched to open and obvious fond chuckles. Even Jessika's stubborn self, rolled her eyes and as she craned her neck away to conceal it, I could still see the smirk that was taking over her lips.

But nevertheless, it wasn't her to speak next and it wasn't her to continue hiding her actions. The same way that I hadn't wanted Jayden to think I was laughing at him either, Misty forced her chirpy chuckles to become a thing of the past and instead, she held her hand out to her daughter after using that same hand to brush her bangs from her eyes.

"Well… You are more than welcome to take as long as you like and I'm sure you know what you're doing." Jayden was told and I felt thankful that she went over to collect Jessika's hand so Jayden didn't see the child's painfully obvious look of doubt! "And I'll make sure that you get no more interruptions! That's probably slowing you down way more than your cooking methods."

And with that, Jayden saw the creased corners of Misty's eyes who tried to lead Jessika away for good while he merely smiled politely and his warm cheek felt a continual scratching of his finger.

It filled me with intrigue that although the eight year old girl let out a sigh, she appeared to allow herself to be led off. Then I supposed, she had got her point across and she had tried to help and that was enough for her. She couldn't help someone that didn't want helping. Or was that untrue? Did Jayden actually want her help?

What happened next made all of this clear.

At her young age and even before that, it had been obvious that Jessika took after Ash's mother, Delia, in the cooking department. She adored helping out and she liked to create and she liked to make. Plain and simple, Jessika liked to cook. She and Jayden were not dissimilar in that aspect.

And if this wasn't enough all by itself, he quickly realised and understood that he liked feeling all the more so a part of the Ketchum family like he had done since he had first taken Katie's hand in the romantic sort of way. He wanted that to last! And he knew that one thing that would help that be a reality was by making an effort on his part.

So before the two Ketchum girl's left and before Jessika had a chance to show her true feelings and disappointedly turn her head over her shoulder and look with eyes that spoke the fact that she only wanted to help, Jayden blurted out.

"Wait!" was all that came out at first and his fingers that were usually decorated in his rings like his father's hand continued dancing all about while he stopped crouching on his knee. Misty was the only one to turn around because little Jessika didn't believe that he would be talking to her. "If… If you think I'm doing things wrong then I need a helping hand, don't I?"

Misty and I couldn't refrain from smiling in each other's direction straight away. We knew where Jayden's intentions laid and we thought it was incredibly sweet. Yet Jessika needed a little more!

She shrugged her shoulder to get the teenage boy's hand away after it had reached for her but it wasn't done rudely so. It was just done before she turned around to face him properly yet again, a light frown decorating over her child-like face.

Seeing the confusion and uncertainty on the young girl's expression, Jayden read that he had to be as clear as the glasses that he had bestowed upon me. He knew that he couldn't fine-tune his words like he usually did.

"Do you want to be my assistant chef and help me cook for Katie tonight, then?" Jayden proffered, his fingers not rising upwards to scratch his own cheek. They didn't switch or jitter by his sides either. They stayed still. His orbs acted in accordance. They didn't falter as they awaited a response.

Needless to say, something of the sort from her non-hesitant self soon came! And after hardly any ticks from the clock on the wall, she was adorned in her own apron and she had washed her own hands and she was ready to cook with her one and only older sister's boyfriend.

While it was true that the second to youngest Morgan son had only suggested this to the second to youngest Ketchum son because he felt like it was the right thing to do and he wanted to make sure to treat each and every member of the Ketchum family with respect – I wasn't surprised by the fact that it was Misty who became like ice cream on a summers day the most.

She offered me company by the counter top above the oven and she held a hand over her heart as Jayden grabbed that then empty wooden crate of food and turned it upside down, putting it on the floor so Jessika could be a little taller as they cooked together.

Misty of course wanted to stay and watch as Jessika was assisted onto her crate turned step ladder but she managed to convince herself to pull away from the scene entirely after she gave me an enjoyable scratch under the chin.

Pushing her hair from her eyes, she smiled at Jayden and she made sure he looked right at her so he could sense the wordless gratitude of his kindness towards all of her daughters. Jayden merely just smiled in response and for once I couldn't tell if the wordless message had been received.

"Well… You two crack on with this. And Jayden, hopefully you'll have no more little visitors spying on you and that includes my husband!" Misty uttered with her mouth quirking upwards.

I burst into amused giggles without hesitation! Jayden was busy finding a knife that would be suitable for the eight year old girl to use so he didn't join me nor did he respond straight away. He merely blinked and he merely smiled.

But then when he caught on, he had a sincere response despite the fact that Misty was teasing him. Well, she was mostly teasing him.

"He would be more than welcome to join us also. And he can ask me any questions he likes." Jayden responded and he gave Misty a sincere look and allowed his eyes to follow her as she headed out of the room and back to her other children for good.

I stood back and couldn't stop myself laughing all the more so at how Misty had simply just waved an amused hand in response yet again. It became a bit of a pain in the neck how suspicious my best friend was of Jayden and how protective he was of Katie. More often than not, his wife had to tell him to calm down!

But it had to be said that she was incredibly impressed how it rolled off like water off a ducks back when it came to Jayden and he seemed to take it in his stride. In fact, he had taken it in his stride since Jayden and Katie were little children and long before being romantically entwined like they were.

I was left with chuckles in my throats and no doubt my best friend's wife was too as she disappeared to a different part of the house. But then and there I was left with the present moment instead. I was left with Jayden smiling shyly albeit welcomingly at the eight year old girl and him preparing to suggest to her what to chop up first of all.

"Now then, I think that-"

Yes, Jessika interrupted Jayden by putting down the knife on the chopping board that he had selected her and turned around on the crate, holding onto the straps of her own cooking apron. She would make it clear that she knew her way around the kitchen even more than his practised self.

"You're going to want to make sure that what you have put in the oven is cooked correctly first of all." She began and Jayden's eyelashes became the closest of friends, drawing together yet again. He didn't want to believe that she could have such a bossy streak to her. Jessika widened her own eyes but it was out of insistence rather than anything else. Clearing her throat, her hands moved away from her apron to gesture to the oven. "Take it out until the oven has pre-heated. Turn the heat down. And make sure you've got a timer. You'll want at least an hour on that."

I didn't know how she got away with her directness!

Two eyes that weren't my own or Jayden's wandered over to the clock in that moment. My gaze observed the young girl and could see her eyebrows rising clearly. It was undoubted what she was thinking.

But her eyes soon fell back to Jayden and when she saw that he wasn't doing anything – not even moving or responding or doing anything at all, least of all what she had told him – she waved a hand at him for him to get a move on.

And it was there and then and in that moment that it was shown that they had similarities beyond being the second to youngest in their family. Despite Jayden's often slow talking and thoughtful self, he could give her directness a run for her money.

This was proven while Jessika lightly and innocently swivelled her eyes and hopped down from the crate, deciding to grab the oven gloves and do things herself if the teenager wasn't complying.

"Well actually I precooked this at home so it will only need around half an hour." Jayden replied and it was like he wasn't used to answering back to her at that point. He soon would be! He paused as soon as Jessika's eyes locked back onto his from crouching in front of the oven, tilting her head over at him. "I guess the two of us have both been wrong thus far."

I had the best seat in the house when Jessika allowed that same silence and pause to take place just like Jayden had demonstrated. She missed a single beat. And then she retorted, staring into the oven rather than over at the teenage boy.

"Maybe, but you're the one continuing to do wrong. So I must correct it." A shrug rolled off her shoulders and with that, we witnessed her put her oven gloves on properly and she opened the oven door, taking the dish out and allowing Jayden to do something by turning the heat down and preparing the timer so it was good to go for when the time came.

And I didn't believe it was too unlikely to assume that we were both watching the eight year old girl carefully for the same reasons. She may have been very direct with Jayden and bordering on bossy but he had been left in charge of her. The last thing he wanted was for her to have an accident.

But as well as this, I believed that he potentially liked that she was no nonsense when it came to him. Whether it was protectiveness over Katie like it was for Ash or it was competence in the kitchen or something else entirely – I believed that he was starting to revel in that dynamic.

Maybe it reminded him of his own siblings! Or maybe it reminded him that there were still bonds out there for him to find and getting in a relationship with Katie was just the beginning of it.

"I'm assuming that you can be trusted to wash the potatoes? After all, they're what are going to take longest to boil." He uttered out only after Jessika had safely put the vegetable pie on the top of the stove for the time being.

From the top of the counter and just to the left of there, I couldn't help but feel my shoulders elevating when Jessika managed not to mutter the word "obviously" in response to either part of what Jayden said! Instead, she simply nodded and after she had rid her hands of the oven gloves, she skidded the crate along half a meter or so by using her foot.

Jayden mirrored the gesticulation with his own head even though she hadn't said anything at all and understanding that the child didn't want or need his supervision, he moved over to my side instead and began giving me some good rubs all over again. Perhaps this was him making up for the fact that I'd been made slightly redundant for one of the Ketchum children!

Nevertheless, the second to youngest Morgan son couldn't keep his mind completely to me and away from Jessika despite the fact that she was more than capable in the kitchen. And like how it usually went down, Jayden quietly thought to himself and a few things came to mind. But he took a leaf out of Katie's second to youngest sister by coming out and asking.

Jayden asked with a smile on his face and a streak of light in his eyes. As well as this, his hands lingered on me and continued thoughtfully rubbing under my chin with his thumb.

"So you like being Katie's little sister, then?" Jayden questioned earnestly and I easily noticed the blush of a rose that took over his face as soon as his sweetheart's name was mentioned. He certainly was more than smitten!

Jessika's being turned in a subtle manner. From her body language I noticed that she was speaking the fact that Jayden's words came out of nowhere. But I only caught on because I knew her so very well. Still, he was clueless.

Jayden simply just waited for an answer. And after quietly sighing to herself and washing a few more of the potatoes ready to boil, Jessika did what was expected of her.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. She does things like this with me as well and I like that. But she can be clumsy." She responded and immediately I noticed two lines tugging Jayden's brows closer together. He wondered whether there was more to her words or it was just a sibling kind of thing. "You must not cook with your little sister?"

The eight year old girl asking a question in response bought an end to anymore of Jayden's silent wondering.

And in spite of the fact that the image suddenly flashed in my mind of the wispy haired toddler that was Jayden's own little sister in her play kitchen rather than a real one, I managed to keep myself from bubbling inside like I was a saucepan of vegetables.

Jayden's eye was overtaken with a single diamond as it was though he was thinking similar things to me but like me as well, he didn't dwell on any of this further. And following the young girl's lead, he continued the conversation promptly and as soon as he thought of things within his own mind.

"No. No, she's much too young for that but I guess I would hope to when she's older." Jayden mused to himself as much as he was replying to the younger person. "In fact, I'm the only one out of my lot who really enjoys this kind of thing. I guess I take over my grandmother as well. Great one." I nodded and listened more than Jessika. "Would you like to help me decorate the table while the kettle boils?"

She had since handed all of the clean potatoes back over to the teenage boy, then collecting them all, all over again to place in the saucepan. It was when the second to youngest Morgan son was filling up the kettle to boil that he asked her that last question.

And it was in that moment that her expression stopped being as certain about everything and filled with an unmistakable innocence and curiosity. While she reacted like this, she soon enough bowed her head just once and followed Jayden out to the garden area after he had picked up his backpack in just one of his hands.

As I followed, I found it natural to see her own studious look. It was as though she didn't understand how a dinner table was supposed to be decorated for a dinner between a couple! But she would soon find out.

It had already been partially decorated out there. I had laid out the knives and forks and managed to wrap them in crisp white napkins as well as a couple of bows! I had filled up the oval shaped glasses with both orange juice and lemonade. Jayden had placed the candles in heart shaped formation at the centre of the table.

Jessika watched with reflective eyes but not ones that were put off! In truth, she seemed to look all the more gladly bewildered by the fact that there was still more to do.

One particular part of Jayden's backpack was reached for in order to search for a lighter and he left that on the table for when the time came to actually light the candles. Then, he reached into a different compartment.

A single red rose already in a vase which he laid out on the table next to all of the candles was revealed – as well as a second one that he left discarded in no particular arrangement. He pulled out a piece of paper of some kind but soon put that back, that obviously being for much later on and for Katie only.

My mouth widened as though I was a glass too at the sheer effort and newness of it all.

Jessika didn't stop peering and staring and began to play with the ends of her locks that were the hue of midnight as Jayden finally pulled out one last thing. He held the item in his fingers for just a few moments and then he spoke to the eight year old with soft, curving lips.

"I'll hang the lights in the tree here because it's a little high up and tricky. But I need your help to turn them on with this button here." he gestured to the plastic and translucent square packet where the battery resided and to the on/off button on the side. Then he handed that part to her.

Holding onto the rest of it and the string of fairy lights, he proceeded to walk over to the tree and decorate it just like he had said. I knew that he didn't need any of my help and I was almost glad. Yes, I felt a great degree of warmth filling my belly at just getting to sit back.

As the second to youngest Morgan son decorated the tree with the lights in the way that he wanted and came to the end of hanging all of them in the branches, Jessika moved closer to his side and she knew it was her turn to do her part when Jayden simply looked over at her and lips curved yet again.

She flicked the switch without hesitation and luminous bright white and heart shaped lights beamed out the tree. Yet they somehow paled in significance to the glance that Jayden and Jessika shared. He felt like it was a job well done. Jessika felt like she was seeing a whole new world of how people behaved!

Then after just a few short moments after the lights burst into life and these looks were exchanged, she girl of the two couldn't help but question as soon as this thought came to mind. She felt as though it was appropriate.

"Are you going to marry my sister?" Jessika questioned in a pure way and a look on her face equally as demure. Yet I believed that she felt that the way she worded it made it seem suspicious and protective. I don't think that I helped any of this with the way that my head turned! "Do you want to marry Katie?"

Her motive still did not change but I for one made sure that my head turn was a lot slower towards Jayden than it was with Jessika seconds before. And in addition to this, I allowed my eyes to linger on him for far longer. I inwardly nodded to myself at my own effort. I wouldn't have wanted to miss what Jayden would go on to say as well as – perhaps more importantly – what he didn't say.

Everything was so very evident on his face from the way that he reacted. His youthful cheeks became as aflame as an oven and as well as ducking his head, that toasty cheek felt a scratching finger yet again. His straightened and magenta parts of his locks flopped over his face in an endearing sort of way.

It was true that while he was blunt in spirit, he often chose his words carefully and leisurely and most often liked to think things through before saying them. Yet there and then while Jessika undoubtedly watched and a well-intentioned frown took over her forehead, he was simply lost for words.

And because he was lost for words, it took him even longer to answer! He most likely knew what he wanted to say because he was intuitive when it came to his own feelings. But he just didn't know how.

Eventually, though, he answered as Jessika's eyes wandered absentmindedly back over to the lights and it caused her eyes to travel to him again all over.

"I… I think there's a good few many steps for us to take before anything like that happens, Jessika. But I know that I would be extremely lucky to be a husband to Katie if it ever happened." Jayden responded earnestly and while I didn't see her outwardly nodding her head, I could feel it from her inwardly. "Would you let me, then?"

The dual haired teenage boy had paused yet again. And then he had added with a sheepish and slight teasing grin to make up for his ever lingering blush. Showing showing that maybe the eight year old girl was inherently picking up traits and quirks from the older male like he was doing with her, she took unusually long to think about her answer and even longer to give it to him!

In fact, she kept hold of the battery part of the fairy lights in her hands and flicked the switch off and on again and off again before finally keeping them on – before she answered at all. But then she answered honestly. Nothing stopped her from answering honestly. And she finally smiled back at Jayden.

"If your date tonight goes well, I'll let you know." Her response came and like was often the case with children; she then skipped off back towards the kitchen after doing so! I found myself chuckling out loud and I looked over at Jayden.

Though he didn't share the same reaction as me, he did look at me and give me a rose tinted natural sort of smile. And in spite of the fact that Jessika wasn't around to hear it, he responded anyway, and he did this as he ran a hand through his hair while following the eight year old back to the kitchen.

"That seems fair enough to me." He mumbled to himself and to me too because I had followed all over again. I had followed back to the kitchen where Jessika had taken the kettle away from the electrics and poured the water into the saucepan with the potatoes as she prepared to boil them.

I tried not to look too smug at the kind of child that Ash and Misty had raised while I hopped back onto the counter. Jayden tried not to look too impressed! And while this was going on, it seemed that it was potential that the raven haired girl had heard Jayden's extra response – and she had had a few seconds to think to herself after she had skipped back to the kitchen.

In her own way, she let the dual haired teenage boy know that it wasn't like for her like it was for Ash. She did trust him. She wasn't that protective. She was just being herself around Jayden. And she was beginning to like the person that he was when he was being himself too.

Jessika suddenly blurted out but in an endearing way.

"I… I didn't mean to tell you that you were doing everything wrong earlier. I guess you were just doing things your way. It's just that… I like cooking." she concluded and even to her young self, though she didn't really know what the word meant, she felt that she concluded rather blandly. But I knew that it was just because she was being truthful.

And it was obvious that the Jayden felt the same way as I when – despite the fact that he looked a little taken aback from the apology from her stubborn self – he soon enough bowed his head and had a smile within his meadow orbs as well as quirking his lips upwards.

"I know you do. You know what you're doing." he retorted in ways that he fretted were a little bland as well but nevertheless Jessika looked up and she smiled back at him for the second time that day. And perhaps because of this or perhaps because he was taking a leaf out of a different book and making his intention come across with actions as well as words, he added, his locks feeling the swooshing moment of a shy hand. "Come on. You can have a sneaky look in the fridge and where I left dessert, if you want. I trust you."

And there and then, I couldn't tell if it was the sneaky look at the dessert or the display of trust that caused Jessika to well and truly perk up! Her eyes positively shone out of their sockets. It certainly put a feeling in my heart that was the completely opposite of the coldness in the fridge. And that grew only more prominent when that moment seemed to be a turning point for them both.

The "sneaky look" at the dessert turned into the two of them well and truly having a laugh together! All sorts of mischief transpired. They dunked their fingers into the carton and had a taste. Then, they smeared it on each other's faces! They laughed; they laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I did too but it was their laughter that was so infectious. It was their laughter that was so welcome. It was their laughter that was so uplifting.

In fact, it was so very unmistakeable too that after they had finished cooking the rest of the food and everything was said and done and food was being piled onto two plates at long last, I turned my head from enjoying watching the two of them and noticed there was yet another person spying.

It was not Ash though! And it wasn't Misty either. It was Katie. And I must've made a specific noise in my throat to make that painfully obvious from the way that Jayden stopped putting more things in the sink to wash up and turned his attention to look and see where his girlfriend was lurking.

Katie didn't hesitate to burst in the room when she saw him looking even though she was meant to be keeping herself scarce! She ran over to her boyfriend's side and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She looked at him with sheepishness and loving shyness but a touch of mischief all the same.

"Is ev… everything nearly ready? I could… could've painted all of my family's nails in the time that you two have been taking!" she spoke and it made my own eyes become the fairy lights outside so when it became obvious that Misty had told that the one chef had turned into two. The smitten girlfriend continued hugging her boyfriend and looking, with lights in her own eyes, over at him.

In response, he tried to roll his eyes and mock being cross that she had interrupted before being called for but he couldn't keep that act on his face let alone his body! Though he tugged her arms away from him, it was so he could take her hands in his and glance at them, complimenting them on her handy work.

"They look good though." He spoke to her effortlessly and after holding her hands in his, he pressed a kiss to those same hands where freshly decorated black and red nail polish resided. Then he pressed an innocent peck to her lips and didn't seem to mind it was in front of Jessika or I. "You came just in time. Perhaps your little sister will do one last thing and help me carry the food to you."

For one small and short moment as I lingered on the counter top, I believed that Jessika could turn and say Jayden should do everything himself seeing as the date had finally commenced! But she didn't do such things.

Actually, to be thanked for going to an effort to help her boyfriend and help her out as well, Jessika instead remained quiet and she got a hug from her one and only eldest sister from behind. The two of them remained connected for a good few moments. Jessika held onto Katie's arms as she was embraced.

Then when they pulled away, she seemed happier than ever to help out! She carried the purple plate while Jayden carried the green one and we all headed there even though it would soon be time for Jessika and me to depart. Yet despite this, it would soon be proved to me that it was actually time for one of us to depart and it wasn't the raven haired girl!

After the plates had been carried to join the drinks glasses and the candles had been lit at last – and needless to say, Jayden held that one discarded rose out to his girlfriend and she accepted it with a loving gasp like it was the first time – the future of the evening would be revealed.

If Katie didn't melt and gasp enough at being handed a rose and she didn't melt and gasp enough at all of the effort that Jayden went for her with the romantically and thoughtfully decorated dinner in the garden, him taking the rose out of the vase and handing it over to Jessika herself most certainly did.

And she proved this by going over to her boyfriend and hugging onto him all over again. And after this and after pecking his lips as well, she held onto his hands. It was her turn to take her hands in his.

"Jess… Jessika can stay and join us now, can't she? She's gone to just as much effort as well…" Katie managed to utter without stuttering too much at all and effortlessly looking right at the boy he loved. I was very touched and my heart soared myself hearing this but my eyes still widened!

I allowed those widened eyes of mine to travel over to Jessika. Not for once, she was preparing to blurt out and respond. But for once, she was going to blurt out and stop someone from being kind to them.

However before she could do any of this, someone else spoke instead. It was Jayden. He quite taken aback for half a second and by his girlfriend's eyes but the more that he looked right back into her eyes himself, the more he found himself understanding her point of view. And going along with it too. Not because she had suggested it. But because he wanted it too.

"It's meant to be romantic." he began initially and both Katie and I got the impression that this was the beginning of a no. Because of this, although the orange haired teenage girl didn't quickly frown, her hand reached up to lightly stroke Jayden's cheek and in a telling way. At the exact same time that Katie's hand brushed his cheek, soon enough, a smile formed close to there. "But I guess it's going to be fun instead. For the three of us."

Jayden looked over at Jessika, making sure that she knew she was welcome.

And with that, Katie became the rose that had been bestowed upon her when she couldn't contain her girlish squeal as she hugged onto Jayden yet again! She composed herself by heading back to the kitchen for a third plate, intending on splitting her meal with her little sister. I headed off and followed with her for no reason other than habit. Or maybe I was practicing because it seemed like I wasn't invited on their sweet three way date!

But I didn't mind. I didn't mind at all. And I minded even less when Katie returned to the sights that we came back to.

Jayden had altered the decorations on the table yet again and he changed them so everybody got some candles each and that went for Jessika as well. As well as this, he had taken the white napkin away from his cutlery with the intention of placing it on the eight year old's lap when she was seated. And he had taken the ribbon away from the napkin and placed it in the midnight locks of Jessika.

And as Katie and I returned to the scene, he was holding Jessika's chair out for her and he was seating her in a very gentlemanly fashion. And in return, she was beaming back at him almost as much as Katie had been.

Of course speaking of the orange haired teenage girl – like her mother had been watching and observing earlier on and with her hand over her heart – there and then Katie was showing the same gesture. The eldest Ketchum daughter had a hand over her heart and me then on her shoulder as she watched her boyfriend and her second youngest sister interact.

Jessika looked over at Katie too and became sunshine to contrast the evening almost as soon as she felt her presence. And it was the sort of beam that couldn't be described with words. But it was the one that put all kinds of thoughts in my mind.

Yes, it had meant to be a romantic date for Jayden and Katie but sometimes romance isn't the most important thing. The upmost important thing is making someone feel included. And because of Jayden's extra little effort there and then and on that evening, Jessika would learn that she had someone to show her how she deserved to be treated if that's what she wanted. But who she would go on to want to be treated by was entirely up to her. And that was yet another wonderful thing in itself.

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) So yeah, this was a little bit different for me, especially writing about some romance between Jayden and Katie, as well as featuring Jessika here too. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned it but I think that Jessika will become a chef when she is older so it was fun to write this, perhaps one of the reasons she does choose that career. Sometimes it's nice to try new things and good to just upload some sweetness as well. So this was fun! Thanks again for reading and I will be back again next Wednesday so see you then!

Amy signing out :)