Chapter two: Boil

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"Mrs. Ketchum?" A nervous voice queried from the doorway to the kitchen.

"Tracey, good morning! I didn't realize anyone else would be up this early, and please do call me Delia," Delia Ketchum enthusiastically greeted.

The early morning light shone softly through the eastern windows of the Ketchum residence where the trio of travelers had been taking a short pit stop before their journey would resume once more.

"I need to talk to you about something," Tracey warbled.

"Would you like some tea?" Delia asked in an effort to calm the anxious teen.

"No thank you, Mrs. Ketchum," Tracey replied shaking his head before launching into the reason for his malaise, "I'm thinking about asking to stay and work with Professor Oak."

"Oh?" Delia raised an eyebrow curiously, "I'm sure Samuel would appreciate the help. He's not as young as he once was."

"But do you think Ash and Misty would be okay without me?"

It came out as more of a sputter than a sentence with inflection spiking upward as Tracey's eyes squeezed shut in fear of an answer he was sure would show on Mrs. Ketchum's face.

"I don't see why not; they've been traveling together for quite some time," Delia dismissively replied.

"I'm just worried because...well, something happened before I met them. I didn't find out until much later, but I kept getting the feeling that I was interrupting something. Their initial return blimp took an…" Tracey quickly remembered his audience, "unexpected pit stop. And I guess Team Rocket made some comments about Misty and Ash being lovebirds or something. Ash was vague on the details, it just apparently got him thinking about it."

Delia nodded in acknowledgment and her steady hands gently poured boiling water over a packet of chamomile tea.

"When I met the two of them they weren't fighting, they seemed genuinely supportive and concerned for each other, and I got the feeling they definitely weren't eager for me to tag along. I really didn't mean to intrude, but when I found out they knew the professor, I just had to travel with them long enough to meet him."

"Maybe you just met them at a point where there wasn't much to argue about?" Delia offered.

"No, it was definitely something more. I didn't get the full story of what happened in the jungle of Tangelo island until Misty had dinner with this gym leader, Rudy, and Ash and I were stuck having dinner at the pokemon center. Ash tried to ignore the whole thing, but, well, you know Ash. He sulked and griped through a meal, which was unusual as he's normally stuffing his face too fast to talk. But with a little bit of pressing I got him to open up about it."

"So what happened?"

Delia took a thoughtful sip of her tea as she waited for the pokemon watcher to fill her in. There were some things Ash would never tell her, and while Delia Ketchum wasn't the type to intrude on her child's business, she liked hearing about Ash's adventures from his friends and peers – it gave her a better perspective of the person Ash was becoming.

"He has pretty strong feelings for her. After Team Rocket's commentary, I guess they kind of played the proverbial game of chicken where supposedly they'd be able to kiss and it wouldn't matter, only they were clearly very wrong. Then after I joined and made it clear I'd be traveling with them, the romantic tension resumed because no matter how they felt they were too stubborn to do anything about it."

"Ash will tell Misty how he feels when he's ready," Delia sagely added.

"No offense, Mrs. Ketchum, but that's not really what I'm concerned about. Having known them for the time I have, having observed what I have as a pokemon watcher with the ability to people watch to a fair extent, it might not be a bad idea to give Ash a refresher on the Pidgey and the Beedrills talk. They're headed for certain romance or utter implosion...and honestly I can't say which is more likely," Tracey nervously suggested, grateful for the early hour to ensure his traveling companions were nowhere within earshot.

"Oh don't worry; Ash had that talk before he left home," Delia stated flippantly.

"Are you sure he...learned...anything from it? It is Ash after all…" Tracey nervously postulated.

Delia shrugged.

"Brock was never concerned."

"I have a feeling that Brock's leaving may have instigated some of the dynamic changes between the two," Tracey sighed.

It didn't seem right to discuss this with his traveling companion's mother, but his previous attempts at discussing this at length with Brock hadn't been fruitful. Brock was downright dismissive about it, but Tracy knew that the shift that started the imbalance was Brock leaving. Suddenly it had been a trio turned duo who's hormones and feelings had created conflict that could no longer be squelched by a balanced third party. When Tracey entered the picture he was sure he messed up some budding love story. Heck, sometimes with him present, it seemed like the younger duo was still on that track. Tracey was as good as a background spectator to their drama and interactions – and he had the sketches to back it up.

"They're still young; it'll be a while before anything changes," Delia shook her head gently, "Brock mentioned tension, but they tend to fight through it so it doesn't seem to be a pressing issue."

"Things have just been different after the Shamouti islands," Tracey sighed, wishing he could get someone to understand what he saw.

"Ash had mentioned that he rather enjoyed that trip despite the having to save the world bit," Delia offered up in an effort to get the pokemon watcher to open up.

"I'm sure he did...After several island battles where he had to watch the leaders flirt with Misty, one of whom invited her to stay there permanently, he probably did enjoy watching her get jealous and off balance about Melody," Tracey muttered more to himself than anyone else, but Delia enjoyed the gossip all the same.

Delia passively stared at the teen waiting for him to elaborate further, but when he made no motion to speak again, she reassuringly insisted he stay with the professor and work and that Ash and Misty would be fine as they always had been.

"I feel like I'm not explaining myself very well...Do you mind if I grab my sketch pad? I think it might be easier for me to just show you," Tracey sighed.

Quickly rummaging through the orange backpack at the end of the couch he located the specific rectangular pad of papers he was looking for that contained drawings of various people. Passing it over to Mrs. Ketchum he observed her reactions to a tabbed section labeled "A&M."

If the younger duo had ever seen this sketchpad and that section, they'd never said anything, but largely Tracey had assumed they'd respected his privacy.

Where Tracey had hoped to find a comrade in concern, Delia instead awed and grinned over the various sketches of Ash and Misty.

"They really are close aren't they?" Mrs. Ketchum wistfully smiled looking at a particular sketch Tracey had drawn during an especially long Lapras ride between islands. Misty had dozed off, and Ash had adjusted her to ensure she wouldn't slide off the back of their ferrying pokemon so she rested with her head on Ash's shoulder and his arm looped carefully around her waist to steady her. The thing that caught Delia's attention was the expression of sheepish awe her son displayed in the sketch.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Tracey sighed resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Look at his expression though – he likes her, but he has no idea what to do about it," Delia grinned, "If your sketches accurately reflect emotions then we have nothing to worry about for a long time."

"If you say so, Mrs. Ketchum," Tracey unconvincingly replied.

"Do you mind if I borrow a few of these sketches? My gardening association asks about Ash and these are honestly better than any of the photographs I have."

"Sure Mrs. K," Tracey replied watching her gingerly tear out a few pages from the sketch pad, "Just...uh, not that one."

Delia looked at him curiously as she studied the sketch of a sleeping Ash and Misty leaned against one another with doodles drawn across their faces.

"See there was this jigglypuff that liked to follow us around and whenever we fell asleep to its song it would get angry and draw on our faces. It's a little silly, but if they do end up together, I'm saving that sketch as a gift," Tracey chuckled.

If. He really meant when, but that also seemed an awkward thing to discuss with his friend's mom.

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Finally happy enough with this short chapter to post it. I have a corresponding fluff oneshot that I may get a chance to post this weekend. It's fully written, I'm just tinkering at this point, but I'll try not to tinker too long.

Next chapter for this one will be a short little bit called "Pour." I'm working on it, but I'm also a fully fledged adult with real life nonsense to deal with before fun so don't expect another chapter for a bit.

-FWFT