At the moment this story is focusing mostly on the relationships between the characters and J
+J's attempt the rebuild their friendship and due to lack of information I am pretty much making up my own version of their pasts. I'm trying to keep mostly to canon but love to insert references to conversations and things that didn't really happen and then writing them as little side stories later. I figure this is all for fun anyway so I can screw around with their heads all I like :p

James couldn't get back through the door fast enough. In the process of walking ten minutes to the store for milk he had seen at least 6 people that he suspected were Team Rocket agents and another 3 who definitely were. He had ducked into a Pokemon accessory shop to avoid those he recognised and as a result he now had a very annoyed Mime Jr wearing an admittedly cute suit.

He suppressed a grin as he helped the indignant little Pokemon out of the hideous outfit.

"Sorry, little buddy. Look at it as taking one for the team."

"MIME!" He didn't need Meowth to translate that.

"What did ya DO to him? Poor lil guy!" Meowth sympathised, reaching out to remove the bow tie.

"Shut up, it was necessary. Has Jessie said anything yet?"

"Nah, she won't come out of her room. Tried ta talk to her but she chucked a shoe at me!"

James winced. No doubt that unenviable task would fall to him. He was hoping that he would come out of the room without any substantial injuries.

Olivia came out of the kitchen clasping a hot mug of chocolate in her hands and he offered her a tired smile, walking past to set the milk on the counter.

"Place is crawling with Rockets." He told her, referring to the town. "They obviously don't know I live here or they would have come looking for Jessie by now."

"Do you think they'll find her?"

"I hope not." He replied. "If they do..."

"They really will kill her won't they?" Olivia asked softly.

"Probably me too, if they find us." He glanced up at her, misinterpreting her expression. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you. They'd probably just drag Jessie and I off and deal with us away from prying eyes. We always were more trouble to them than we were worth."

"I'm not worried about that! I'm scared for you, James, I don't want to lose you! Especially not for the sake of a partner you haven't seen in years!"

"What do you propose?" He snapped back. "Turn her out? That's my best friend, running for her life, do you really think I'd turn my back on her?"

"No, I'm not saying that!" She sighed in frustration. "I won't pretend that I like the woman, James, I don't but she doesn't deserve what they would do if they caught her, of course I'm not saying turn her out. I just don't want them to catch you too."

He softened slightly and took her into his arms. She was tense and fidgety but returned his embrace.

"I know." He murmured quietly.

Upstairs Jessie was finding it hard to settle to anything. She had heard James and Olivia arguing and had guessed that Team Rocket were searching in town for her. The whole situation was making her antsy and filled with a nervous energy that made it hard to sit still. On top of that the humiliation of this morning's fight with Meowth was still fresh in her mind, making her cheeks burn red whenever she thought of it. She couldn't believe he had told James. After she had specifically told him not to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a light knock at the door.

"Jess?" Can I come in?"

He got no answer and so decided to take that as an invitation and opened the door anyway. He found her lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. She didn't look at him or even acknowledge that he had entered the room.

He sighed and moved to sit beside her.

"Bad news. The town is crawling with field agents. I recognised a few of them but they didn't see me." This got a reaction finally.

"Are you sure, they didn't see you? James, you know the only reason you got away like you did was because Giovanni didn't want to expend resources looking for you. If they think you could cause trouble for them..."

"Relax!" He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I promise they didn't see me."

She relaxed a little and smiled at him.

"Look, James, I just wanted you to know... I really appreciate you taking us in, hiding us like this. I know I never treated you that well but... Look, even if they catch me, I wanted you to know that..."

She trailed off, uncertain of exactly what she was trying to say to him.

"Was there even a whole sentence in there?" He teased, gently. "Its okay, Jessie, I know what you mean and they aren't going to catch you. Even if I have to steal a balloon and take to the skies like old times."

She laughed.

"Hey, Jess? Where did you stab the Boss anyway? You sure you didn't kill him?"

"Wishful thinking." She replied. "I got him in the leg."

James got a wary look on his face. "What were you aiming for?"

The smirk on her face was enough of and answer and he carefully crossed his legs in sympathy as she started laughing again and rolled onto her side facing him.

"Hey, James?"

"Yeah?"

"Lie down for a minute?"

"What?"

"Lie down for a minute. Stop looking at me like that will you, I don't mean like that just... lay with me like we used to."

He stared at her for a few more seconds as though trying to figure out the odd request but finally lay down beside her. It felt strange but still somehow familiar after all these years and he wondered if she had missed it.

He vaguely wondered what Olivia would think if she came upstairs and found them like this. It must be hard for her having Jessie here even without the constant threat of Team Rocket. He and Jessie had always been close and he wondered what Olivia was thinking when she watched them together as they tried to repair their fractured friendship.

He wondered if him being married would change things between him Jessie. Their previous relationship had been fairly touchy feely, at least on his part. He had made sure of it. He remembered the awkward stilted conversations of their early days and how shocked he had been when Jessie had let slip that she had never been hugged.

It had been a conversation about the odd quirks people had and Jessie had said that she didn't like strangers touching her. He had asked why and she had muttered something about being brought up in orphanages and wasn't used to casual contact. He had asked if they didn't ever try and cuddle her and stuff when she was small to which she shook her head with a bemused expression on her face and said that she couldn't actually ever remember being hugged by anyone except her mother who had died when she was five.

She had seemed completely confused at James reaction, not knowing why he seemed to think it was such a big deal. Since that conversation he had taken it upon himself to make a point of casual touches. She had known exactly what he was doing but hadn't resisted or told him to stop and they had quickly become comfortable with each other to the point that even sharing a sleeping bag on subzero nights had been no big deal.

He wondered why it seemed so different now. Whether it was just the length of time since they had last seen each other or if that level of trust was gone forever.

The next thing he knew he was waking up still in Jessie's room. They had moved in their sleep and she was now pressed up against his back, sleeping soundly. He rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to wake up fully and glanced at the clock. He hadn't been sleeping long, only about an hour and he doubted that Olivia had been up to check on them yet. She had been trying to teach Meowth to make catnip cookies last he saw of them and he could smell them now, obviously out of the oven.

Getting up he wandered downstairs to find Meowth eating one of the freshly baked cookies.

"Hey!" The Pokemon greeted him cheerfully. "I gotta remember how to make these!"

James smiled at him. Meowth never changed, always thinking about his stomach.

"Where's Olivia?"

"Clearing up in da kitchen. Jess still asleep?"

"What are you talking about."

"Ha! Don't be trying that with Meowth, I saw ya sleepin like a couple of Skiddo!"

"Do NOT let Jessie hear you compare her to a GOAT Pokemon!"

Olivia re entered the room at that point and he was forced to stop talking. Not that he let that stop him sending Meowth a threatening glare.

"Hi, honey. How's Jessie doing?"

"Fine, sleeping. She said to thank you for everything you've done."

She hadn't in fact said anything of the sort but he figured he ought to try and keep the peace between the two.

They made some quiet small talk for a while before settling in for the evening to watch TV and unwind a little. Jessie never came downstairs and after a while he went up to use the bathroom and decided on a whim to check on her. He was almost tempted to take a picture at the scene before him but considered that it would probably be hazardous to his health. Jessie was still sleeping in the same position he had left her in except she now had Mime Jr tucked against her stomach, her arms around him and Meowth curled against her chest with his head under her chin.

He snorted with amusement at the sight of her with Meowth. It was rare that he saw them not fighting over the last 24 hours but apparently she had either forgiven him or he had snuck in while she was sleeping and there would be a bloodbath when she woke up. Closing the door he left them to it.

Go on please, just a little review? It will take one minute and make me happy :)