p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Paper garlands hung from corner to corner in reds golds and greens, and brightly coloured lights twinkled from the Christmas tree in the corner of the Kanto Times conference room. The staff members, bellies full of pizza, stood around discussing their latest stories or plans for the festive season. Glasses of wine were topped up and Christmas music sounded lightly through the chatter. Jessie excused herself from the conversation to refill her glass, grinning as she spied James helping himself to yet another donut. This wasn't an average Friday pizza party. This was the long awaited 'Festive Fiesta', an afternoon in early December when work stopped early and the tree was assembled, the decorations were hung, and the rest of the day was spent eating, drinking and opening presents from Secret Santa. The only work event that people looked forward to more was the actual office Christmas Party, which would take place nearer to Christmas. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Look at you out of your cave" teased Jessie as she approached James. "I didn't think IT guys could go out in the sunlight." A couple of the admin staff stood nearby laughed at Jessie's comment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Whilst it is true that we are, in fact, vampires," James selected another donut from the platter, before continuing in a dodgy attempt at a Dracula impression, "there is no need to fear me, for this is the only blood I desire!" He bit viciously in to the donut, a trickle of strawberry jam escaping from the corner of his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie snorted a laugh as James swallowed his bite, before he asked "So when are you starting the Secret Santa?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Whenever I feel like it" she replied airily, "perks of being the organiser, you know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"They shared a devious grin. "Not the only perk." James replied, lowering his voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie checked her watch. "May as well get it over with, then we can focus on the wine!" She took a couple of gulps from her glass then adjusted her santa hat perched atop her blonde wig. Glancing at James, she smiled as she reached to grab a napkin from the buffet table. "Here, you have some blood on you, oh terrible one" she teased as she wiped the corner of James' mouth, her smile widening as James blushed, grabbing the napkin from her and scrubbing at his face as she left./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie, Deirdre and Ashleigh stood in front of the tree and shouted for attention, before handing out the beautifully wrapped gifts that were piled under it one by one. Soon, the conference table was garnished with wrapping paper and packaging, as the staff admired or burst in to hysterics at their gifts from their Secret Santa. Jessie watched Dominic from the corner of her eye as he opened his presents. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'Like I said, everyone has a weakness, you just gotta know what it is in order to exploit it' /emshe smiled to herself behind her wine glass. She had it on good authority that Dominic was a huge fan of Christmas, and she watched his joyful expression as he examined the three pairs of Christmas socks, the fancy box of festive chocolates, and most importantly, the small USB light up Christmas tree, courtesy of Giovanni. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's eyes scanned the room until she found the familiar long dark hair and glasses, and saw an identical look of glee on James' face as he cuddled his new stuffed Growlithe. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'Another perk of being the organiser'/em she smirked to herself. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""…and if you could schedule that teleconference for the afternoon due to time-zones, don't want them complaining it's too early for them" Jessie scribbled down notes in her diary as Dominic continued, "oh and book the conference room for 10 o clock on the 4supth/sup of Jan, two hours should do it. Make sure there's enough tea and coffee for five people. And biscuits. And would you mind making a lunch reservation for after the meeting too? Galileo's will be fine." Dominic paused as he wracked his brain for anything he'd missed, Jessie scanning her notes to ensure she'd noted everything down. "I think that's everything. Listen, thanks for staying late to help with this, I appreciate it Amanda."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie tucked her pen behind her ear and closed her diary. "No problem Dom! I'll book everything in the morning. I'm gonna head home now unless there's anything else you need?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dom logged off his computer and stood, grabbing his briefcase and jacket. "No, that's all for today, thanks. I've got a meeting with the Chief shortly so…" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A knock at the open door interrupted Dominic and the pair turned to see James hovering awkwardly. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything? I'm here to fix your phone. Apologies I'm only getting around to it now, I had some server issues that required my attention."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I don't know what's wrong with it, it was working fine earlier!" Dominic gestured to his phone, as James suppressed a smile, knowing a certain scratch cat had secretly tampered with it. "But Amanda was just leaving, nothing to interrupt!" Dom continued as he shooed Jessie towards the door and towards James, before chuckling to himself and folding his arms, grinning expectantly at the pair stood in the doorway. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie and James glanced at each other and then back at Dominic. "What's so funny?" asked Jessie./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Look up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Slowly, Jessie and James raised their heads, eyes widening at the green leaves and little white berries hanging on the door frame as Dominic erupted in to giggles. James emitted a comically loud shriek and jumped back, knocking in to the doorframe and toppling over in to the corridor, causing with Jessie and Dominic to howl with laughter. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dominic wiped his eyes as he stepped over James. "Man, I do love Christmas!" he giggled to Jessie as they walked up the corridor, leaving James red-faced and spread-eagled on the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A snicker behind him made him jump, and he twisted to see Meowth trotting past him on all fours. "You shudda seen your face!" he hissed, before speeding up to follow Dominic./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James rubbed a hand over his face, picked himself up and dusted himself off, all the while grumbling to himself about stupid Christmas and stupid Dominic and stupid scratch cats. He took a deep breath as he sat at Dominic's computer, glancing at the door and listening to ensure all was quiet. As far as he was aware, the only people left in the building were himself, Dominic and the Chief, and Meowth, who was stationed outside the Chief's office. Quickly, he pulled his laptop from his bag and unplugged Dominic's Christmas tree USB decoration, replacing it with an identical one as he waited for his laptop to power up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James plugged the USB tree from Giovanni in to his laptop and opened the file, scanning until he found the passwords he was looking for. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Am I good to begin?" he murmured in to his mic. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""All clear" came Meowth's reply./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie was killing time in her hotel room by playing Pineco-sweeper on her laptop. She em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"should/em have been working on the mission report but had soon got bored of that, and opted for a game and a glass of wine instead. She glanced at the time in the corner of the screen. Jessie had every faith in the Rocket boys but she hated not being there, not knowing what was going on. She clicked a few more squares at random, scowling when she lost the game. Not that she'd ever really figured out exactly how to play it in the first place. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'They shouldn't be too much longer, I hope everything's alright…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth stood silently, ear pressed against the door. So far he'd heard plenty of interesting things, snippets of ongoing investigations, but nothing about Team Rocket or anything else Giovanni might be interested in. James had informed him a couple of minutes previous that his part was complete and he'd see him back at the hotel, leaving Meowth bored and alone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Minutes went by, Meowth's concentration waning as his thoughts turned to food, spurred on by the hunger pangs in his tummy. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he pressed his ear further in to the door, jaw dropping as he listened./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie had just finished her second glass of wine when there was a knock at her door, and she jumped up and hurried over to it, swinging it open to reveal James sporting a wide grin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie ushered him in to the room. "Well?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It took a while to copy everything over, I didn't bother to run a search, just copied everything from that hidden drive," James pulled out a small USB drive from his laptop bag and held it up, "but we have the files!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie shrieked with joy, grabbing James' hands and the two jumped up and down, gleeful laughter filling the air. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Knew you could do it!" Jessie praised as they came to a stand-still. "Do you think the info the boss is after is definitely in there?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It's highly likely. Although I can run a search on the key words now to confirm. May I borrow yours as it's already on?" James motioned to her laptop on her desk./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Work away!" Jessie opened the door to the mini fridge. "Can I interest you in a beverage, good sir?" she asked, holding up a small bottle of red wine./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James plugged the USB in to Jessie's laptop and opened the folder. "Don't mind if I do! It's been a tough day" he grinned at his partner, pulling off his wig and glasses and storing them in his laptop bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie poured two bottles in to tumblers and set James' on the desk as he typed, both emitting cries of happiness when the search results began to populate. Jessie raised her glass, "Cheers!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James grabbed his glass and raised it. "Cheers!" The two Rockets clinked their tumblers, smiles wide, emerald and sapphire shining as they gazed in to each other's eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A frantic pounding at the door made the pair jump, and Jessie strode over to open it, Meowth barging in to the room as James stood from the chair. "Guys, I got somethin', oh boy!" Meowth ran his paws over his face and tried to calm his breathing; he'd obviously returned in a hurry. Door securely locked, Jessie sat on the bed and waited for Meowth to continue./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I hoid 'em," Meowth began between breaths, "dey was talkin' bout some goil, a Rocket, but not really, she was woikin' undercover!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Undercover… at the Times? Like we are?" asked Jessie, trying to follow Meowth's frantic speech./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Nah, like she wasn't really a Rocket! But she'd managed to get in wit' us and was spyin' on us! Feedin' info back to da paper! Dat's where dey was getting' dere intel!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""What do you mean by 'us'?' asked James, "was someone spying on us whilst we were spying on them?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth waved his paws. "No no no, dis was ages ago! I mean spyin' on Team Rocket. Dey was woikin on a big undercover scoop all about Rockets and da boss. But here's da thing, da goil went missin'. But from what I hoid, dey think da boss found out. Dat's what dey're investigatin. Dey reckon da boss got to dis goil and tortured her, maybe even killed her! Dey said somethin' about da Andes too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""One of Giovanni's search words!" exclaimed James, turning back to the laptop./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Now, I ain't one for sympathisin' with traitors but killin' folk ain't right. Dey said her name was… Freeya? Or Leah? I t'ink dat's what I hoid?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's blood ran cold. 'emIt can't be…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Dey also said she had a small daughter, left all alone, poor kid…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's vision blurred, her heart beating loudly in her ears. 'emNo… No…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Sheesh, do ya tink it's true? Dat da boss is a moiderer?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie wasn't aware of her nails digging in to her palms, as she squeezed her eyes shut. 'emNO…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James clutched the back of the chair, frowning at the screen, unease settling over him; he knew Giovanni wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen, but was he capable of murder? "I don't know Meowth… but it's no wonder Giovanni didn't want us to open the files if there's any truth to…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James suddenly found himself knocked to the floor, shoulder landing hard against the wardrobe. Disoriented, he looked up to see Jessie typing furiously and files springing open on the screen. He blinked hard. "Jessie?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Woah Jess whaddaya doin'? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Jessie no!" James leapt up, slightly unsteady on his feet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie pushed him again as he approached her, his back slamming in to the wardrobe. "No!" her voice was strained, almost a sob. "I need… I… can't…" her fingers shook as she typed. "Stay back!" she hissed as James approached again. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Eyes wide, he backed off, signalling to Meowth to retract his claws with a glance and subtle shake of his head, instead coming to stand behind her at a safe distance as she scrolled through the documents. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie could barely breathe, eyes scanning for the name she didn't want to find. Waves of nausea and anger battled for dominance, her heart pounding. Her breath caught in her throat as she clicked on a photograph, and the whole world paused in the second it took for it to open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A photo of a young lady with short green hair stared back at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's hands flew to her mouth, relief threatening to drown her, and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. A sound somewhere between a sigh and a whine left her lips as she took a step back from the desk, blinking furiously. In the same moment, span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJames moved towards the screen, hands covering his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth looked from James to Jessie, and back to James. "Will one a ya's please tell Meowth what's going on here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie shook her head minutely, not knowing where to even start to try and explain her behaviour without revealing anything. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""She was my partner", James whispered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Wait… what?" Jessie, who had sunk on to the bed now lifted her head towards James in confusion, her emotions still reeling and her brain struggling to focus on this new turn of events./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James turned his back on the laptop and the Rockets, running his hands through his hair and then over his face, breathing heavily. He turned back to face his team mates. "When I first joined Team Rocket, Maria… she was my partner. She was kicked out after a few weeks…" He paused, staring at the floor as he tried to make sense of this new information. "They didn't tell me anything, only that she'd been dismissed, that she wasn't 'Rocket material'… I remember thinking it was odd at the time, I didn't think that we just let people go, knowing where the base was and who Giovanni really was, but I was so overwhelmed with reports and training…" James trailed off, hands covering his face again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Aw c'mon Jimmy dere's nothin you coulda done!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Meowth is right James, don't beat yourself up." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The guilt and despair on James' face morphed in to determination, and he strode over to the desk, sitting heavily in the chair to continue where Jessie left off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Not you too! Jimmy, da boss said we wasn't s'posed to read any of dat stuff!" Meowth clawed at the fur on his head, scowling when he was ignored. "We are gonna be in big trouble if he finds out, guys dis is serious, oh boy…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Meowth!" growled Jessie, "put a sock in it before I put a sock in it!" She reached threateningly towards her sock drawer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth looked helplessly from one team mate to the next, before admitting defeat. He muttered under his breath as he jumped on to the bed beside Jessie, folding his arms and glaring at James./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Oh here, drink this" Jessie thrust her wine under Meowth's nose, smirking when he grasped the tumbler in his furry paws. "Now shut up would you?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie reached over to grab another small bottle of wine from the mini bar, twisting it open and opting to drink straight from the bottle, and she settled herself against the propped up pillows. Her nerves were still wrecked, and she inwardly cursed herself for her behaviour in front of her team mates. She was relieved of course, but she couldn't shake the conflicting sense of disappointment of not finding out more information of her mother's disappearance all those years ago./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"She was dead, of course. She had to be. Too much time had passed, and Jessie had resigned herself to the idea. When she was younger she still had hope, a naïve fantasy; em'Missing, presumed dead'/em wasn't absolute, after all. But the hope had faded as the years passed by, existing now only in her dreams. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie opened her eyes slowly, hues of purple coming in to focus, and she sat up in bed with a jolt. "Mama!" she cried, opening her arms, and snuggling in to her mother's chest as she wrapped her arms round Jessie's small body. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Hi honey, I missed you!" Miyamoto smiled as she kissed Jessie's hair. "But I'm home now!" She pulled away to look Jessie in the face. "And guess what? It's snowing!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie erupted in to a huge grin, and she scrambled out of bed and made a run for the door. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Excuse me young lady! You are not going out there in your jammies!" Miyamoto scolded as she scooped Jessie in to her arms, and made her way to the window instead. There, Jessie smiled at the white landscape, pressing her palm against the window./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Mama it's so pretty!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Just like you, my little snow princess." Miya said as she kissed her daughters forehead, smiling at the look of wonder on Jessie's face./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie giggled as Miyamoto put her down on the floor. "Now, wrap up warm. Gloves, hat, scarf, boots, coat. Got it?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Got it Mama!" Jessie replied, scurrying away to her wardrobe./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Their faces were red from the cold when they finally made their way back inside, Miyamoto helping Jessie out of her coat and accessories. What had started as a snowman building session had turned in to a long walk through the countryside, stomping patterns in to the snow as they went, pausing to watch wild pokémon playing in the soft blanket of white, and eventually erupting in to a snowball fight on their return to the house. Jessie, now free from her wet outer-garments, curled up on the sofa and watched as her mother built a fire. As the flames started to rise, Miyamoto crawled over to her daughter, laughing as Jessie started to giggle. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Hot chocolate for my snow princess?" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie grinned. "Yes please Mama!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The next days passed in much the same way. Each morning they were treated to a new fresh blanket of snow, each day was spent with love and laughter, and each evening found the two of them curled up on the sofa watching a movie, telling stories, or reading together. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie sat snuggled on her mother's lap and twirled a ringlet of purple round her small fingers, marvelling at how soft it was. But her eyes were glued to the book on her lap, and she smiled as Miyamoto turned the page./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Who's that Pokémon?" Miyamoto's voice was barely louder than the soft crackling of the fire./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"'It's Moltres!" chirped Jessie, smiling at the beautiful artwork. "I like Moltres."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Oh yeah?" asked Miyamoto, watching as Jessie stroked the page with her fingers. "Why's that?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I like its fire. Look, there and there," her fingers followed the curves of the flames as she spoke. "Pretty. Like the fire!" she looked up at the fire across the room, watching as the flames flickered and moved. "It's like the fires are dancing."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""You mean the flames? One fire," Miyamoto held up one finger, "many flames" she held up the rest and wiggled them, before diving in to tickle Jessie's belly. Laughter rang through the quiet night as Jessie tried to catch her breath, tears running down her cheeks. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Silly Mama" she chastised once Miyamoto had stopped, but her face still sported a wide grin. Focusing back on the book, Jessie held up her fingers and wiggled them. "Flames," she repeated. "Moltres is flamey. Flamey Moltres!" she giggled at her mother./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""But that's not your favourite is it?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's small hands flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Mew!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Miyamoto slid Jessie off her lap, Jessie snuggling in to the arm of the sofa instead as her mother opened the door./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Madame Boss! Come on in, it's freezing out there!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Thank you Miya, sorry for dropping by unannounced but I was on my way back from the lab." Her face lit up as she entered the room and spied Jessie. "Hello Jessie sweetheart, what are you reading there?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie held up her book so the cover was visible. "Pokemon!" she exclaimed happily, then looked towards her mother, "how'd you say that word again?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Legendary" Miyamoto said, smiling as Jessie repeated it slowly to herself. "Jessie could you go up to your room for a few minutes? Go and get your jammies on, and find your fluffiest socks."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Ok Mama!" Jessie sprang to her feet, briefly stopping to give Madame Boss a quick hug around her legs, before leaving the room./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""They're so precious when they're young" Jessie heard as she scrambled up the stairs, "Gio's at that age now where he hates everyone. Teenagers!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Five minutes later, Jessie was wrapped up in her warmest pj's, and had carefully selected a pair of bright pink fluffy socks that perfectly matched her hair. She sat on her bed, swinging her legs, waiting for the grown ups to finish talking. Finally, after what felt like forever, she heard the front door close and she scuttled to the top of the stairs, breaking in to a grin as her mother smiled up at her./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Once they were settled back on the sofa, mugs of hot chocolate warming their hands and bellies, Miyamoto turned to Jessie, "so, do you think Mew is real?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie scrunched up her face in thought. "Errr, yeah, I do." She nodded with determination. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Apparently…" Miyamoto leaned in close to her daughter, "there's a rumour that Mew might live high up in the mountains, in a place called the Andes."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""The Andes… where's that?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""A long long way away, right over the other side of the world!" Jessie gasped, and Miya set down her hot chocolate on the table before turning to her daughter. "Listen honey, Mama has to go there, soon, for work. That's why Madame Boss was here. And I'll be gone for a while, cos it's so far away."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's face fell. "How long?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""A month, maybe two." Miyamoto gently took Jessie's hot chocolate and set it next to hers, before scooping her daughter on to her knee. "I don't have to go yet though, I'll be here with you for all of Christmas!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A brief smile tugged at Jessie's lips at that, but sadness still clouded her eyes. She was used to her mother having to disappear for work, though it was usually for a week or two at the longest. "But Mama that's so long. And so far away."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I know sweetheart." She enveloped Jessie in a tight hug, smoothing her hair with her fingers as Jessie sighed in to her neck. "But it's really important. And you know why Madame Boss always picks me, right?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie extracted herself and faced her mother. "cos you're the best!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""That's right!" smiled Miyamoto, "but you know who else is the best?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie paused in thought. "Ummm, is it me?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It's you! Yes!" Miyamoto laughed, before launching a tickle attack on Jessie's neck, making her erupt in to high pitched giggles. They squealed and squirmed on the sofa for a few minutes, both out of breath by the end from laughing. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""If you're going to the Andes, are you gonna try and find Mew?" Jessie's eyes lit up./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Miyamoto laughed, "It's just boring old work, but I'll keep an eye out just in case." She winked conspiratorially. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""… was an undercover reporter working with Dominic," James' words roused Jessie from her memories. "The whole operation has been ongoing for quite some time. According to Dominic's notes, Giovanni was likely informed that they'd been infiltrated by his contact in the police…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Da rogue Jenny!" exclaimed Meowth, "I hoid em talkin about dat!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Right! But Maria disappeared before she could gather all the evidence needed. And now it's a possible murder case too." James reached for his tumbler and gulped his wine, still in shock at the revelations about his old partner./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""So what did all this have to do with the Andes?" Jessie asked, as nonchalantly as she could./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"From the information they've obtained, it seems that anyone who has seriously angered or betrayed Giovanni has ended up in the Andes." James took a deep breath before continuing. "They have reason to believe that there is a small Rocket base high in the mountains, and that people have been incarcerated and…" James shuddered at the word, "tortured there, and occasionally… disposed of."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie frowned. It had to be a coincidence. Her mother was one of Team Rocket's best agents. She was sent to the Andes on an important mission. She and Madame Boss were good friends. There's no way... Still, unease slithered over her, making her skin prickle uncomfortably./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Still can't b'lieve it," Meowth slurred, his now empty tumbler slipping from his grasp. "Is da boss weally a moiderer?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""The evidence does seem compelling, but there's nothing concrete yet from what I can tell" James replied as he scrolled through the document. He paused as another photograph appeared in the text and his face fell. "I hope there's no truth in it." he whispered as he gazed at Maria's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dark thoughts whirred round and round in Jessie's brain, it wasn't possible. And yet…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Right," Jessie clapped her hands together, startling the boys. "It's been a long day, and I need my rest. Out!" She made shooing gestures towards her team mates. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James blinked. "Oh, ok, yes of course." He downed the last of his wine and motioned towards the laptop. "Shall I…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""No, no, leave it, I'll sort it out." Jessie stood from the bed and herded James towards the door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James grabbed his laptop bag in one hand, and scooped a drowsy Meowth in the other. "Right, well we'll see you tomor..." he managed to say before the door was closed in his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie leant back on the door and sighed, then moved quickly to the laptop. She hesitated, fingers poised above the keys. Steeling herself with a deep breath, she typed the name in to the search bar./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The minutes went by, but nothing appeared. Jessie tried a couple more terms that might lead to a mention of her mother, but all came back with the same result. Jessie leant back in the chair and exhaled slowly. No news was good news, right? Rubbing her eyes, she made her way back to the bed and grabbed her bottle of wine, downing the rest of it in one go, grimacing as she swallowed. Leaning back against the pillows, she brought her knees up and rested her forehead against them, arms wrapped tightly round her legs, and she let her mind drift back to memories of that last Christmas together, of laughter and flashes of purple, tears pricking behind her eyes and a soft smile on her lips./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Mama…"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Look at you out of your cave" teased Jessie as she approached James. "I didn't think IT guys could go out in the sunlight." A couple of the admin staff stood nearby laughed at Jessie's comment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Whilst it is true that we are, in fact, vampires," James selected another donut from the platter, before continuing in a dodgy attempt at a Dracula impression, "there is no need to fear me, for this is the only blood I desire!" He bit viciously in to the donut, a trickle of strawberry jam escaping from the corner of his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie snorted a laugh as James swallowed his bite, before he asked "So when are you starting the Secret Santa?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Whenever I feel like it" she replied airily, "perks of being the organiser, you know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"They shared a devious grin. "Not the only perk." James replied, lowering his voice./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie checked her watch. "May as well get it over with, then we can focus on the wine!" She took a couple of gulps from her glass then adjusted her santa hat perched atop her blonde wig. Glancing at James, she smiled as she reached to grab a napkin from the buffet table. "Here, you have some blood on you, oh terrible one" she teased as she wiped the corner of James' mouth, her smile widening as James blushed, grabbing the napkin from her and scrubbing at his face as she left./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie, Deirdre and Ashleigh stood in front of the tree and shouted for attention, before handing out the beautifully wrapped gifts that were piled under it one by one. Soon, the conference table was garnished with wrapping paper and packaging, as the staff admired or burst in to hysterics at their gifts from their Secret Santa. Jessie watched Dominic from the corner of her eye as he opened his presents. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'Like I said, everyone has a weakness, you just gotta know what it is in order to exploit it' /emshe smiled to herself behind her wine glass. She had it on good authority that Dominic was a huge fan of Christmas, and she watched his joyful expression as he examined the three pairs of Christmas socks, the fancy box of festive chocolates, and most importantly, the small USB light up Christmas tree, courtesy of Giovanni. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's eyes scanned the room until she found the familiar long dark hair and glasses, and saw an identical look of glee on James' face as he cuddled his new stuffed Growlithe. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'Another perk of being the organiser'/em she smirked to herself. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""…and if you could schedule that teleconference for the afternoon due to time-zones, don't want them complaining it's too early for them" Jessie scribbled down notes in her diary as Dominic continued, "oh and book the conference room for 10 o clock on the 4supth/sup of Jan, two hours should do it. Make sure there's enough tea and coffee for five people. And biscuits. And would you mind making a lunch reservation for after the meeting too? Galileo's will be fine." Dominic paused as he wracked his brain for anything he'd missed, Jessie scanning her notes to ensure she'd noted everything down. "I think that's everything. Listen, thanks for staying late to help with this, I appreciate it Amanda."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie tucked her pen behind her ear and closed her diary. "No problem Dom! I'll book everything in the morning. I'm gonna head home now unless there's anything else you need?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dom logged off his computer and stood, grabbing his briefcase and jacket. "No, that's all for today, thanks. I've got a meeting with the Chief shortly so…" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A knock at the open door interrupted Dominic and the pair turned to see James hovering awkwardly. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything? I'm here to fix your phone. Apologies I'm only getting around to it now, I had some server issues that required my attention."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I don't know what's wrong with it, it was working fine earlier!" Dominic gestured to his phone, as James suppressed a smile, knowing a certain scratch cat had secretly tampered with it. "But Amanda was just leaving, nothing to interrupt!" Dom continued as he shooed Jessie towards the door and towards James, before chuckling to himself and folding his arms, grinning expectantly at the pair stood in the doorway. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie and James glanced at each other and then back at Dominic. "What's so funny?" asked Jessie./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Look up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Slowly, Jessie and James raised their heads, eyes widening at the green leaves and little white berries hanging on the door frame as Dominic erupted in to giggles. James emitted a comically loud shriek and jumped back, knocking in to the doorframe and toppling over in to the corridor, causing with Jessie and Dominic to howl with laughter. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dominic wiped his eyes as he stepped over James. "Man, I do love Christmas!" he giggled to Jessie as they walked up the corridor, leaving James red-faced and spread-eagled on the floor. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A snicker behind him made him jump, and he twisted to see Meowth trotting past him on all fours. "You shudda seen your face!" he hissed, before speeding up to follow Dominic./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James rubbed a hand over his face, picked himself up and dusted himself off, all the while grumbling to himself about stupid Christmas and stupid Dominic and stupid scratch cats. He took a deep breath as he sat at Dominic's computer, glancing at the door and listening to ensure all was quiet. As far as he was aware, the only people left in the building were himself, Dominic and the Chief, and Meowth, who was stationed outside the Chief's office. Quickly, he pulled his laptop from his bag and unplugged Dominic's Christmas tree USB decoration, replacing it with an identical one as he waited for his laptop to power up. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James plugged the USB tree from Giovanni in to his laptop and opened the file, scanning until he found the passwords he was looking for. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Am I good to begin?" he murmured in to his mic. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""All clear" came Meowth's reply./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie was killing time in her hotel room by playing Pineco-sweeper on her laptop. She em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"should/em have been working on the mission report but had soon got bored of that, and opted for a game and a glass of wine instead. She glanced at the time in the corner of the screen. Jessie had every faith in the Rocket boys but she hated not being there, not knowing what was going on. She clicked a few more squares at random, scowling when she lost the game. Not that she'd ever really figured out exactly how to play it in the first place. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'They shouldn't be too much longer, I hope everything's alright…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth stood silently, ear pressed against the door. So far he'd heard plenty of interesting things, snippets of ongoing investigations, but nothing about Team Rocket or anything else Giovanni might be interested in. James had informed him a couple of minutes previous that his part was complete and he'd see him back at the hotel, leaving Meowth bored and alone. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Minutes went by, Meowth's concentration waning as his thoughts turned to food, spurred on by the hunger pangs in his tummy. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he pressed his ear further in to the door, jaw dropping as he listened./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie had just finished her second glass of wine when there was a knock at her door, and she jumped up and hurried over to it, swinging it open to reveal James sporting a wide grin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie ushered him in to the room. "Well?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It took a while to copy everything over, I didn't bother to run a search, just copied everything from that hidden drive," James pulled out a small USB drive from his laptop bag and held it up, "but we have the files!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie shrieked with joy, grabbing James' hands and the two jumped up and down, gleeful laughter filling the air. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Knew you could do it!" Jessie praised as they came to a stand-still. "Do you think the info the boss is after is definitely in there?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It's highly likely. Although I can run a search on the key words now to confirm. May I borrow yours as it's already on?" James motioned to her laptop on her desk./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Work away!" Jessie opened the door to the mini fridge. "Can I interest you in a beverage, good sir?" she asked, holding up a small bottle of red wine./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James plugged the USB in to Jessie's laptop and opened the folder. "Don't mind if I do! It's been a tough day" he grinned at his partner, pulling off his wig and glasses and storing them in his laptop bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie poured two bottles in to tumblers and set James' on the desk as he typed, both emitting cries of happiness when the search results began to populate. Jessie raised her glass, "Cheers!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James grabbed his glass and raised it. "Cheers!" The two Rockets clinked their tumblers, smiles wide, emerald and sapphire shining as they gazed in to each other's eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A frantic pounding at the door made the pair jump, and Jessie strode over to open it, Meowth barging in to the room as James stood from the chair. "Guys, I got somethin', oh boy!" Meowth ran his paws over his face and tried to calm his breathing; he'd obviously returned in a hurry. Door securely locked, Jessie sat on the bed and waited for Meowth to continue./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I hoid 'em," Meowth began between breaths, "dey was talkin' bout some goil, a Rocket, but not really, she was woikin' undercover!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Undercover… at the Times? Like we are?" asked Jessie, trying to follow Meowth's frantic speech./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Nah, like she wasn't really a Rocket! But she'd managed to get in wit' us and was spyin' on us! Feedin' info back to da paper! Dat's where dey was getting' dere intel!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""What do you mean by 'us'?' asked James, "was someone spying on us whilst we were spying on them?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth waved his paws. "No no no, dis was ages ago! I mean spyin' on Team Rocket. Dey was woikin on a big undercover scoop all about Rockets and da boss. But here's da thing, da goil went missin'. But from what I hoid, dey think da boss found out. Dat's what dey're investigatin. Dey reckon da boss got to dis goil and tortured her, maybe even killed her! Dey said somethin' about da Andes too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""One of Giovanni's search words!" exclaimed James, turning back to the laptop./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Now, I ain't one for sympathisin' with traitors but killin' folk ain't right. Dey said her name was… Freeya? Or Leah? I t'ink dat's what I hoid?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's blood ran cold. 'emIt can't be…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Dey also said she had a small daughter, left all alone, poor kid…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's vision blurred, her heart beating loudly in her ears. 'emNo… No…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Sheesh, do ya tink it's true? Dat da boss is a moiderer?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie wasn't aware of her nails digging in to her palms, as she squeezed her eyes shut. 'emNO…'/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James clutched the back of the chair, frowning at the screen, unease settling over him; he knew Giovanni wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen, but was he capable of murder? "I don't know Meowth… but it's no wonder Giovanni didn't want us to open the files if there's any truth to…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James suddenly found himself knocked to the floor, shoulder landing hard against the wardrobe. Disoriented, he looked up to see Jessie typing furiously and files springing open on the screen. He blinked hard. "Jessie?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Woah Jess whaddaya doin'? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Jessie no!" James leapt up, slightly unsteady on his feet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie pushed him again as he approached her, his back slamming in to the wardrobe. "No!" her voice was strained, almost a sob. "I need… I… can't…" her fingers shook as she typed. "Stay back!" she hissed as James approached again. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Eyes wide, he backed off, signalling to Meowth to retract his claws with a glance and subtle shake of his head, instead coming to stand behind her at a safe distance as she scrolled through the documents. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie could barely breathe, eyes scanning for the name she didn't want to find. Waves of nausea and anger battled for dominance, her heart pounding. Her breath caught in her throat as she clicked on a photograph, and the whole world paused in the second it took for it to open./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A photo of a young lady with short green hair stared back at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's hands flew to her mouth, relief threatening to drown her, and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. A sound somewhere between a sigh and a whine left her lips as she took a step back from the desk, blinking furiously. In the same moment, span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanJames moved towards the screen, hands covering his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth looked from James to Jessie, and back to James. "Will one a ya's please tell Meowth what's going on here?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie shook her head minutely, not knowing where to even start to try and explain her behaviour without revealing anything. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""She was my partner", James whispered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Wait… what?" Jessie, who had sunk on to the bed now lifted her head towards James in confusion, her emotions still reeling and her brain struggling to focus on this new turn of events./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James turned his back on the laptop and the Rockets, running his hands through his hair and then over his face, breathing heavily. He turned back to face his team mates. "When I first joined Team Rocket, Maria… she was my partner. She was kicked out after a few weeks…" He paused, staring at the floor as he tried to make sense of this new information. "They didn't tell me anything, only that she'd been dismissed, that she wasn't 'Rocket material'… I remember thinking it was odd at the time, I didn't think that we just let people go, knowing where the base was and who Giovanni really was, but I was so overwhelmed with reports and training…" James trailed off, hands covering his face again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Aw c'mon Jimmy dere's nothin you coulda done!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Meowth is right James, don't beat yourself up." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The guilt and despair on James' face morphed in to determination, and he strode over to the desk, sitting heavily in the chair to continue where Jessie left off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Not you too! Jimmy, da boss said we wasn't s'posed to read any of dat stuff!" Meowth clawed at the fur on his head, scowling when he was ignored. "We are gonna be in big trouble if he finds out, guys dis is serious, oh boy…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Meowth!" growled Jessie, "put a sock in it before I put a sock in it!" She reached threateningly towards her sock drawer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Meowth looked helplessly from one team mate to the next, before admitting defeat. He muttered under his breath as he jumped on to the bed beside Jessie, folding his arms and glaring at James./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Oh here, drink this" Jessie thrust her wine under Meowth's nose, smirking when he grasped the tumbler in his furry paws. "Now shut up would you?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie reached over to grab another small bottle of wine from the mini bar, twisting it open and opting to drink straight from the bottle, and she settled herself against the propped up pillows. Her nerves were still wrecked, and she inwardly cursed herself for her behaviour in front of her team mates. She was relieved of course, but she couldn't shake the conflicting sense of disappointment of not finding out more information of her mother's disappearance all those years ago./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"She was dead, of course. She had to be. Too much time had passed, and Jessie had resigned herself to the idea. When she was younger she still had hope, a naïve fantasy; em'Missing, presumed dead'/em wasn't absolute, after all. But the hope had faded as the years passed by, existing now only in her dreams. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie opened her eyes slowly, hues of purple coming in to focus, and she sat up in bed with a jolt. "Mama!" she cried, opening her arms, and snuggling in to her mother's chest as she wrapped her arms round Jessie's small body. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Hi honey, I missed you!" Miyamoto smiled as she kissed Jessie's hair. "But I'm home now!" She pulled away to look Jessie in the face. "And guess what? It's snowing!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie erupted in to a huge grin, and she scrambled out of bed and made a run for the door. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Excuse me young lady! You are not going out there in your jammies!" Miyamoto scolded as she scooped Jessie in to her arms, and made her way to the window instead. There, Jessie smiled at the white landscape, pressing her palm against the window./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Mama it's so pretty!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Just like you, my little snow princess." Miya said as she kissed her daughters forehead, smiling at the look of wonder on Jessie's face./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie giggled as Miyamoto put her down on the floor. "Now, wrap up warm. Gloves, hat, scarf, boots, coat. Got it?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Got it Mama!" Jessie replied, scurrying away to her wardrobe./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Their faces were red from the cold when they finally made their way back inside, Miyamoto helping Jessie out of her coat and accessories. What had started as a snowman building session had turned in to a long walk through the countryside, stomping patterns in to the snow as they went, pausing to watch wild pokémon playing in the soft blanket of white, and eventually erupting in to a snowball fight on their return to the house. Jessie, now free from her wet outer-garments, curled up on the sofa and watched as her mother built a fire. As the flames started to rise, Miyamoto crawled over to her daughter, laughing as Jessie started to giggle. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Hot chocolate for my snow princess?" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie grinned. "Yes please Mama!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"xXx/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The next days passed in much the same way. Each morning they were treated to a new fresh blanket of snow, each day was spent with love and laughter, and each evening found the two of them curled up on the sofa watching a movie, telling stories, or reading together. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie sat snuggled on her mother's lap and twirled a ringlet of purple round her small fingers, marvelling at how soft it was. But her eyes were glued to the book on her lap, and she smiled as Miyamoto turned the page./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Who's that Pokémon?" Miyamoto's voice was barely louder than the soft crackling of the fire./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"'It's Moltres!" chirped Jessie, smiling at the beautiful artwork. "I like Moltres."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Oh yeah?" asked Miyamoto, watching as Jessie stroked the page with her fingers. "Why's that?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I like its fire. Look, there and there," her fingers followed the curves of the flames as she spoke. "Pretty. Like the fire!" she looked up at the fire across the room, watching as the flames flickered and moved. "It's like the fires are dancing."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""You mean the flames? One fire," Miyamoto held up one finger, "many flames" she held up the rest and wiggled them, before diving in to tickle Jessie's belly. Laughter rang through the quiet night as Jessie tried to catch her breath, tears running down her cheeks. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Silly Mama" she chastised once Miyamoto had stopped, but her face still sported a wide grin. Focusing back on the book, Jessie held up her fingers and wiggled them. "Flames," she repeated. "Moltres is flamey. Flamey Moltres!" she giggled at her mother./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""But that's not your favourite is it?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's small hands flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Mew!" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Miyamoto slid Jessie off her lap, Jessie snuggling in to the arm of the sofa instead as her mother opened the door./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Madame Boss! Come on in, it's freezing out there!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Thank you Miya, sorry for dropping by unannounced but I was on my way back from the lab." Her face lit up as she entered the room and spied Jessie. "Hello Jessie sweetheart, what are you reading there?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie held up her book so the cover was visible. "Pokemon!" she exclaimed happily, then looked towards her mother, "how'd you say that word again?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Legendary" Miyamoto said, smiling as Jessie repeated it slowly to herself. "Jessie could you go up to your room for a few minutes? Go and get your jammies on, and find your fluffiest socks."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Ok Mama!" Jessie sprang to her feet, briefly stopping to give Madame Boss a quick hug around her legs, before leaving the room./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""They're so precious when they're young" Jessie heard as she scrambled up the stairs, "Gio's at that age now where he hates everyone. Teenagers!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Five minutes later, Jessie was wrapped up in her warmest pj's, and had carefully selected a pair of bright pink fluffy socks that perfectly matched her hair. She sat on her bed, swinging her legs, waiting for the grown ups to finish talking. Finally, after what felt like forever, she heard the front door close and she scuttled to the top of the stairs, breaking in to a grin as her mother smiled up at her./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Once they were settled back on the sofa, mugs of hot chocolate warming their hands and bellies, Miyamoto turned to Jessie, "so, do you think Mew is real?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie scrunched up her face in thought. "Errr, yeah, I do." She nodded with determination. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Apparently…" Miyamoto leaned in close to her daughter, "there's a rumour that Mew might live high up in the mountains, in a place called the Andes."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""The Andes… where's that?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""A long long way away, right over the other side of the world!" Jessie gasped, and Miya set down her hot chocolate on the table before turning to her daughter. "Listen honey, Mama has to go there, soon, for work. That's why Madame Boss was here. And I'll be gone for a while, cos it's so far away."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie's face fell. "How long?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""A month, maybe two." Miyamoto gently took Jessie's hot chocolate and set it next to hers, before scooping her daughter on to her knee. "I don't have to go yet though, I'll be here with you for all of Christmas!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"A brief smile tugged at Jessie's lips at that, but sadness still clouded her eyes. She was used to her mother having to disappear for work, though it was usually for a week or two at the longest. "But Mama that's so long. And so far away."/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""I know sweetheart." She enveloped Jessie in a tight hug, smoothing her hair with her fingers as Jessie sighed in to her neck. "But it's really important. And you know why Madame Boss always picks me, right?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie extracted herself and faced her mother. "cos you're the best!"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""That's right!" smiled Miyamoto, "but you know who else is the best?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie paused in thought. "Ummm, is it me?"/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""It's you! Yes!" Miyamoto laughed, before launching a tickle attack on Jessie's neck, making her erupt in to high pitched giggles. They squealed and squirmed on the sofa for a few minutes, both out of breath by the end from laughing. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""If you're going to the Andes, are you gonna try and find Mew?" Jessie's eyes lit up./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Miyamoto laughed, "It's just boring old work, but I'll keep an eye out just in case." She winked conspiratorially. /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""… was an undercover reporter working with Dominic," James' words roused Jessie from her memories. "The whole operation has been ongoing for quite some time. According to Dominic's notes, Giovanni was likely informed that they'd been infiltrated by his contact in the police…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Da rogue Jenny!" exclaimed Meowth, "I hoid em talkin about dat!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Right! But Maria disappeared before she could gather all the evidence needed. And now it's a possible murder case too." James reached for his tumbler and gulped his wine, still in shock at the revelations about his old partner./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""So what did all this have to do with the Andes?" Jessie asked, as nonchalantly as she could./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"From the information they've obtained, it seems that anyone who has seriously angered or betrayed Giovanni has ended up in the Andes." James took a deep breath before continuing. "They have reason to believe that there is a small Rocket base high in the mountains, and that people have been incarcerated and…" James shuddered at the word, "tortured there, and occasionally… disposed of."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie frowned. It had to be a coincidence. Her mother was one of Team Rocket's best agents. She was sent to the Andes on an important mission. She and Madame Boss were good friends. There's no way... Still, unease slithered over her, making her skin prickle uncomfortably./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Still can't b'lieve it," Meowth slurred, his now empty tumbler slipping from his grasp. "Is da boss weally a moiderer?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""The evidence does seem compelling, but there's nothing concrete yet from what I can tell" James replied as he scrolled through the document. He paused as another photograph appeared in the text and his face fell. "I hope there's no truth in it." he whispered as he gazed at Maria's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Dark thoughts whirred round and round in Jessie's brain, it wasn't possible. And yet…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Right," Jessie clapped her hands together, startling the boys. "It's been a long day, and I need my rest. Out!" She made shooing gestures towards her team mates. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James blinked. "Oh, ok, yes of course." He downed the last of his wine and motioned towards the laptop. "Shall I…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""No, no, leave it, I'll sort it out." Jessie stood from the bed and herded James towards the door. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"James grabbed his laptop bag in one hand, and scooped a drowsy Meowth in the other. "Right, well we'll see you tomor..." he managed to say before the door was closed in his face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"Jessie leant back on the door and sighed, then moved quickly to the laptop. She hesitated, fingers poised above the keys. Steeling herself with a deep breath, she typed the name in to the search bar./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"The minutes went by, but nothing appeared. Jessie tried a couple more terms that might lead to a mention of her mother, but all came back with the same result. Jessie leant back in the chair and exhaled slowly. No news was good news, right? Rubbing her eyes, she made her way back to the bed and grabbed her bottle of wine, downing the rest of it in one go, grimacing as she swallowed. Leaning back against the pillows, she brought her knees up and rested her forehead against them, arms wrapped tightly round her legs, and she let her mind drift back to memories of that last Christmas together, of laughter and flashes of purple, tears pricking behind her eyes and a soft smile on her lips./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;""Mama…"/span/em/p