When Delia married Giovanni, she stayed with him in an apartment he had in Viridian city. It was a very beautiful and large place, she was sure that that place had been very expensive and although she knew that the work of a gym leader did not make him rich, she did not ask anything.

Giovanni, knowing that this could generate doubts in his wife, told her that his mother was a very successful businesswoman and that many of her businesses were in Viridian city. That he took care of them because the woman left them to him when she went to live in another region, but they rarely communicated. This explanation was enough then for the sweet wife of the gym leader, who liked to visit her small town to see her mother. Every time she did, she felt that she should come back. Viridian's city was beautiful and full of possibilities, but she had always liked her little house better in her town.

When she was in Pallet Town helping her mother with dinner and with Giovanni sitting in the garden reading or taking care of Persian. As the cool country air crept in through the windows and she could hear the pidgeys sing, Delia felt completely happy. It brought back beautiful memories of her childhood and made her happy. But when her mother died Delia felt too depressed, she knew that no one would wait for her in Pueblo Paleta with open arms and a delicious meal to enjoy as a family. She knew that her children would no longer be able to enjoy the country air and the pampering of a loving grandmother, that made her seriously think about the way she wanted to raise her children and the city did not seem ideal for it so she discussed the issue with her husband.

"Understand me Delia I can't just move to Pallet Town, I have to take care of the gym and my business here ..."

"I know I'm asking you a lot, Gio, I just wanted ..."

She suddenly felt overwhelmed by her emotions, she knew she was asking too much with that. She understood very well what he was saying to her, but she still refused to accept it. Giovanni approached her and wrapped his arms around her, she supported her face on his chest.

"I understand that Pallet Town means a lot to you. And I know that your mother's death has made you want to go back there, and my dear, I don't want you to feel that you are here tied to Viridian City by me"

"Oh no, of course I don't feel it that way Giovanni", she said in a hurry to get any wrong thoughts out of the head of the gym leader, "I know how much everything you've accomplished has cost you dear ..."

Giovanni kissed his wife's forehead, gave her a warm smile, and said:

"How about we spend the weekend there?"

Delia's eyes lit up with joy and she hugged him.

On that weekend Delia met Sammy again who was very changed, he was now taller, his hair was now short and he no longer wore his glasses. Bumping into him in Pallet Town was a surprise, even more so to learn that he had returned to stay permanently since he would be in charge with his father of some very important research for the scientific community. Delia still remembered the moment as if it had been yesterday because of Sammy's reaction when he found out that she had married Giovanni, the Viridian City gym leader. They were at a small party, which Professor Oak hosted to welcome his son back. They had been at the party for a while, where she greeted some people from the town and shared with Giovanni about the tasks she used to do there with Sammy's father. When the researcher's son finally showed up, he was surprised to see her so changed, she was a beautiful woman. But his gaze also focused on the unfriendly-faced man beside her. He came over to greet her with a smile on his face.

"Delia, Delia Ketchum", He said as he took her hand and hugged her. Giovanni narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the effusive apparition.

"Sammy!", Delia yelled as she laughed with her old friend.

When they separated she went to her husband's side. She took him by the hand and led him toward Sammy.

"May I introduce you to my husband Giovanni, he is Sammy my dear old friend ..."

The gym leader gave a slightly menacing look and a haughty smile to the young researcher, whom he didn't know about more than the few times Delia named him. But which he was not liking the old friend at all well.

The two men shook each other's hands in what seemed like a duel of strength.

"Nice to meet you," Sammy said with a hint of lies.

"The same, Delia has told me a lot about you, you are a book boy, a researcher right?", Giovanni commented haughtily.

"That's right, and you, a merchant? no?", That was said in a somewhat reckless tone, knowing that he was the leader in Viridian.

"A gym leader indeed, but I'm also a small businessman"

Delia looked at both of them and felt her energies collide. She then she decided to intervene.

"Sammy, it's been nice to see you, but we have to go home, we have some things to sort out"

Samuel Oak, son, watched her take Giovanni's hand, which wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I understand Delia, it was a pleasure to see you again, I hope we can meet before you return to Viridian"

"Oh I hope so too, there's a lot to catch up on…"

"Yes, I also want to introduce you to Sandy, my girlfriend", he said effusively, "she will come later from Celadon City"

"It will be my pleasure," Delia replied as she began to walk with Giovanni.

After meeting again Sammy they had hardly left the house as they spent it lying in bed in each other's arms. Her encounter with Samuel Oak Jr. had served Delia to settle that past with him. She no longer felt anything for Sammy other than a healthy feeling of affection for that childhood friend.

Back at Viridian, Giovanni focused on his responsibilities with the gym, occasionally sneaking out to review his business outside of his leadership job. One day he received a letter from Johto. It was a letter from his mother advising him that she was very ill and that she would soon die so she wanted to see him immediately. The future crime lord lied to his wife saying that he would have to leave, this for gym business, and that he would return as soon as he had nothing else to do in Johto. Delia did not find it suspicious as he had been absent on other occasions for work reasons.

Giovanni was greeted at the Goldenrod City airport by four well-armed escorts who took him to a luxurious building in the city center. The gym leader put on his sunglasses as he got out of the car and a very cool breeze hit his face.

"This way sir", The guard led him to the apartment of his mother who was already waiting for him.

The white-skinned, black-haired woman was sitting on a comfortable sofa. She was wearing a black dress, and a red shawl over it. She had a ventilator next to her and some IVs on her left arm.

"Mother I am here"

Giovanni leaned towards his mother who took his face in her hands and kissed him cheek gently.

"Glad to see you son"

She made a wave of her hand indicating him to sit down. He unbuttoned his black jacket and sat across from her.

"How you feel?"

"Ahh it's like I am dead already, the pain is unbearable, but that doesn't matter now, tell me how is all doing in Kanto?"

"Everything is going well, the businesses that Team Rocket manages prosper every day more"

"That's fantastic, I'm glad to know that I taught you well. And tell me how is that beautiful wife you got?" The woman looked at him and noticed how her son changed his face and relaxed.

"Delia… she is a good woman, she is kind and caring… she is very intelligent and reasonable…"

"A charm", Said the woman taking a sip of water, "I guess she doesn't know about me, or our organization, right?"

"Of course not. I've kept everything a secret"

"Giovanni, I know it's difficult for you to hide it from her, but believe me it's better this way"

The gym leader nodded. The woman was silent for a moment and then pulled out a small gift box from the nightstand next to her.

"Take it," she said, handing him the box, "Happy birthday in advance, I know there are still a few days to go, but I know I won't be there to give it to you"

Giovanni took the small black velvet box that was adorned by a red bow. He carefully opened it and pulled out a badge with a red R letter sparkly. He looked at his mother and she smiled at him.

"Congratulations new boss of Team Rocket"

Giovanni placed the insignia on his coat and his mother smiled with pleasure. That would be the beginning of a prosperous criminal career. Since he was little he had been raised with only one purpose and that was to take the reins of Team Rocket at some point, so having reached that point in his life made him feel excited and full.

His mother had raised him strictly and had seldom shown her affection. She wanted to form a strong character in him, which caused his son to think many times that he was not loved, and that he was rather one more element in his mother's organization destined to fulfill a purpose and goal . When he met Delia and related to her, he knew for the first time real affection and felt very attached to her.

The new and young head of Team Rocket had some meetings with the higher ups of his organization, his mother gave him some important reports and brought him up to date on everything that he now owned, as well as gave him some important contacts . Giovanni until then understood the monetary, political and military power that he now possessed.

After visiting his mother and being with her for a couple of days, Giovanni returned as promised to Viridian City, his wife welcomed him with a great dinner as it was the twenty-third birthday of the young gym leader. That night Delia gave him the surprise of expecting them first child. The one who would become the crime lord lifted his wife into the air and kissed her, enormously happy, the news filled him with joy.

"Are you happy my love?", The woman asked sweetly, looking at him with bright eyes.

"It has been the best gift Delia", he smiled her as he rarely did he did so with such sincerity and joy in him.

The following months had been uneventful for Delia, who spent her days at home, taking care of her garden. She loved this activity that she learned from her mother. She also liked to devour books of fantastic and funny stories. She used to cook delicious desserts driven by her pregnancy cravings and she looked forward to Giovanni coming home every day after his work to share her day with him and listen to him too. She would occasionally surprise him at the gym with a basket of food she made herself and they would have picnics on the roof. Delia liked to enjoy the sunsets from there. She always said that she loved the view of the city from the gym rooftop.

And while his wife decanted chose to choose the color of the baby's room and buy small items of clothing, Giovanni began to realize that his new responsibilities were too dangerous for his little family. He spent entire nights without sleep, just watching Delia rest quietly next to him. He wondered what he would do if she found out about everything or if something happened to her because of him. He would not be able to endure such a situation. In addition, he now was restlessness the arrival of her first-born who would undoubtedly be his Achilles heel from the moment he will arrive in the world. All the concerns and fears of the gym leader began to take their toll on him. He was tired and in a bad mood, so he was spending more time than he should in the gym and out of town with Team Rocket. He avoided showing his bad temper with his wife, that highly explosive temper that he had always been able to keep in check and now surpassed him. It was then that he decided to push the anxiety and stress out of him with his fists. He spent long hours hitting a punching bag, sweaty and agitated. His fists often ended up red and swollen, and the bandages on his hands ended up undone.

When Ash was born, Giovanni was in Celadon city to review the progress of his new casino. Another of the businesses that served as a front for his activities as a criminal leader. He had spoken with his wife who was still a few weeks away before delivery according to his doctor. Delia had told him with a smile to go away that she would be fine. A call had brought him back from Celadon within hours of arriving.

Giovanni entered the hospital room agitated by the race he made from the elevator worried about his wife and son. When he entered his gaze met Delia's who had a small bundle of blankets in her arms. She smiled warmly at him and Giovanni's feet stuck to the ground. The bright light streaming through window made her look like an angel just lowered from heaven. Her eyes were bright with energy. And he looked like they was in a fairy tale. With slow steps he approached her.

"Welcome dad", she told him, taking some of the blanket off the baby.

Giovanni felt his heart leap out of his chest and he swallowed hard. He got close enough to see between the blue blankets. And his eyes were fixed on a little brown and puffy face, with a mat of black hair like his own. Delia gave him the baby and he held him fearfully at first and then as if he were an expert. He could feel Ash's warm little body and fell completely in love with his little son when he gave him a sweet look, identical to Delia's.

"Hi Ash, I'm daddy..."

The gym leader leaned over his wife and kissed her. Then he sat next to her on the edge of the bed, allowing her to rest her head on him.

"It's perfect Delia", He took Ash's little hand in his.

"He looks like you, don't you think?"

Delia smiled and winked at him. Giovanni laughed.

"Don't say that, the boy is very cute"

"Like you darling", she told him laughing, "Look at him, frowning like daddy"

They laughed together and shared a while more in each other's company until Giovanni had to leave the room, since she would stay that night there. He said goodbye to Ash and Delia, and left the hospital, to put everything in order for the arrival of the baby the next day. As he drove home, he seriously thought about his responsibility of father. As soon as he held Ash in his arms he knew there was nothing he would not do for him. And that he would do anything to keep him safe.

Delia also thought about her duty as a mother that night, and decided that she definitely did not want to raise him in the city. So once she was at home with her son and her husband, she returned to the topic that she had already spoken with Giovanni before. She expected a refusal from him so the response she got from him surprised her.

"Sounds good to me", Giovanni looked at her calmly. There was no question in his words.

"Really Gio?", Delia asked to confirm excited.

"Of course I do, I think it's the best for Ash"

And is that for Giovanni that idea of going to Pallet Town had been the only option he found safe. He had already realized the enormous risk that Delia and Ash were exposed to in Viridian city as the leader of an impetuous organization and he was not willing to wait for someone to find out and their lives be in danger.

Giovanni had the little house in Pueblo Paleta completely remodeled as Delia wanted and they went there. But our young gym leader didn't stick with them. He returned to Viridian City a few months later, agreeing with his wife to maintain close communication and to return whenever he could. He explained that he knew they would be fine there and that he loved them. Delia did not want to discuss that, she understood that Giovanni could not leave the gym just like that and that going to Pallet Town had been a capricious hers one that he complied with. So she, holding back the pain of her husband's departure, she kissed him and watched him go. Thus they began to live a life away from the other. With a love that from a distance continued to grow stronger.

The years had passed, Giovanni visited them continuously in Pallet Town. He made sure he didn't miss any of his little one's birthday or achievement. He tried to maintain his role as husband and father as best he could. Although his role in Team Rocket was beginning to consume him. He spent months with them, but in the end he always returned to Viridian City. Ash grew up thinking of his father as a wonderful trainer and gym leader. One who strived every day to be the best.

With the passage of time, Giovanni became a cruel and ruthless man, a facet he needed to fulfill the objectives of Team Rocket, but in Pallet Town with his son and wife he was a man like any other who helped with dinner and played with his son.

So, they had come to this moment with Delia walking through the city to go see him. She was worried about the man she did not know he had become the leader of the most feared and largest criminal organization in recent times. The woman caught a glimpse of the facade of Viridian's Gym at the end of the street, she knew that there she would find her husband, and she hoped he was fine.

Viridian City's gym was renowned for being the toughest of all. It was commented was the leader on was a cold and calculating man, a complete soulless person from whom you could not easily take the Earth Badge. Indigo Plateau Conference commentators used to joke that it was like facing a wall of ice, as Giovanni was like a complete glacier. One of the commenters ventured to call him a complete ruthless. Which upset the gym leader and sent his men out for a gentle chat with the commentator who never badly mentioned the Viridian City leader's name again.

The crime lord liked to provoke in his challengers a feeling of anguish and despair, he enjoyed cornering his adversaries, making them fear for the safety of his pokemon and sometimes even his own. However, since a long time the adrenaline of a duel and the emotion that ran through his body when he had a fight in his gym had been lost, there was no longer that spark that he used to find when fighting with his pokemon, the happiness of a victory it had become routine. Now among his greatest emotions were the large sums of money that came into his hands from his business in Team Rocket, the adrenaline coursing through his veins making him feel satisfied when he remove from his path to some rival or unfortunate who annoy him.

Sometimes he himself wondered what had happened to make his ambitions change so much, Giovanni meditated on his actions continuously, he felt upset many times when the happy moments he spent with his son and wife came to his mind, chills ran down his back like tentacles of guilt at the thought of the face Delia would make if she found out about everything he had done in those years as the head of a ruthless criminal organization. Of something he was very sure was that she never must find out what he was really doing in Viridian city, he couldn't resist that the only person who had treated him with so much affection and shown that cared for him left his side.

Giovanni leaned back in his executive chair, glanced at the clock on the wall, he had been working non-stop for four hours. He had stacks of papers on his desk that seemed to multiply instead of disappearing, he sighed tiredly and turned his head to review them. The gym was closed that afternoon and there was no one but him in the whole place. He was about to start filling out some forms when the door to his office opened, and with surprise he raised his face to see his guest enter.

"Giovanni ..."

His name was said in a soft and sweet tone that he knew well, the crime lord felt a chill run up his spine and hurriedly stood up.

"Delia", he rushed to meet her, "What are you doing here?", He asked her in a tone of undeniable concern.

She looked at him like many times before with sweetness, she gave him an affectionate smile while she let herself be embraced by him.

"I needed to see you"

The woman with the chocolate eyes and brown hair answered. Giovanni took her by the hands and guided her to a comfortable sofa that was in her office, the place was wide and had a large window with a great view of the city.

"Come sit down, did you use the emergency door?" He asked with a contagious little laugh.

She laughed too and patted her arm playfully. Delia used to use the emergency door when she visited him at the beginning of her relationship and he remembered it with joy.

"I realized that the gym was closed and I had to see you", he said still laughing, "It has been a long time since you have been to Pallet Town", Smiled slightly now showing a more serious face, "I tried to call you, but no you answered, I thought something had happened to you "

"I'm so sorry Delia, I've been very busy, could you excuse me?", He brushed a lock of her hair from her face.

"I get it Gio" she said kissing him on the cheek.

Delia firmly believed that the love they felt for each other was so strong that it endured distances. The ignorance of all that her husband was doing in the shadows was a heavy rock tied to Giovanni's feet, who stared at her for a moment. He thought it was fortunate that that day he had given all of his guards a day off to have some time alone, although with a lot of work to do from the gym.

"How is our son?", He asked forcing a smile to avoid thinking about the imaginary stone tied to his feet.

"Ash broke his arm a few days ago," the woman muttered.

"What happened?", Giovanni hurried to ask, startled and with a tone of voice that contained a mixture of concern and surprise, "But is Ash okay?"

Delia took a photograph out of her bag and handed it to her husband, it was Ash smiling as always, in a yellow cast, and next to him the little friend of her son Gary Oak.

"Our son is fine. He fell out of a tree in Professor Oak's garden. Fortunately, Gary quickly notified his grandfather and Ash was taken to the hospital."

"Damn," he replied through clenched teeth, "I should have been there," he growled under his breath.

"Ash asked me to give you this picture, keep it", she smiled at him.

"Ash…", he murmured looking at the image.

"He looks a lot like you", Delia commented laughing, "he is an adventurer, he reminds me of you, I know he will want to travel the world, maybe you will see him here soon for a gym challenge"

"That be great…"

They both looked at each other smiling. It had been a long time since they had shared a moment alone. Giovanni wrapped Delia in his arms.

"Do you want something to drink? Have you eaten yet?"

The crime lord had always been overly concerned about his wife. He felt it was his duty to take care of her at the cost of everything. He looked at her as everything he was not, a kind, considerate, generous person, she was like an angel in his eyes. Delia had shown him that he was capable of love and that his past as a lonely child raised without receiving affection and understanding was only a memory, she, Delia, truly loved him.

"I'm fine", Delia gave him a warm smile, "How have you been? How are you doing in the gym?"

"Things are going well, I think better than ever, it's been a long time since someone has taken one of my medals"

"That's my husband." She took his shirt, drawing him to her mouth to kiss him. "You're the best", she said against his lips. He nodded gratefully.

Delia looked around her as if searching for something. At the end she smiling she asked:

"Where is Persian?, May I say hi to he?"

"Sure, he'll be happy to see you"

Giovanni got up from the chair and went to his desk, took his black jacket that was on his chair and looked for the pokeball that contained his precious Persian. Usually the inseparable feline pokemon of the crime lord roamed freely in his office, slept on the expensive carpet or on the sofa and liked to watch his trainer work, Giovanni found it relaxing to run his hand over the Persian's fur, when walked over to his desk and rubbed against his legs. This time Persian was in the pokeball because the gym leader had used him in a challenge that morning and wanted the pokemon to regain energy. The gym leader released Persian from the pokeball who meowed lazily and jumped onto the sofa rubbing his head on Delia's shoulder.

"Hello cute Persian", the woman stroked the feline's head, "How have you been? You look beautiful"

The pokemon seemed to smile as he licked the woman's hands and face. Delia had always liked the buddy of her husband, seemed very beautiful and tender to her. When Giovanni visited to Pallet Town, Persian would play in the garden with Ash and she would prepare special food for him, the pokemon was very fond of his trainer's wife.

Giovanni watched Delia share a moment with Persian, smiled genuinely and approached them. The pokemon jumped to the ground, letting his trainer sit next to the woman, looked at them for a moment and then turned to go to the door.

"Where he goes?"

"He likes to walk around the gym, he is the absolute owner"

The crime lord let out a laugh that would make the hair stand on end to any of his employees or rivals who knew of his perverse activities. But for her Delia it had been an adorable gesture and she fell on top of him hugging him. Giovanni was tempted to stay like this forever.