Okay, been a while since last update. Sorry about that. I finally got myself a beta but did a lot of work on it after she looked at it so any errors are probably mine. Thanks sooo much to The Lights Refrain for betaing, and to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Hope you all enjoy.

~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~

"Jess!" James finally managed to force out, wincing as his stomach cramped again. He had forgotten how much getting in Jessie's way could hurt.

It was too late though, she was gone and he struggled to suppress the rising panic at the thought of her getting caught trying to run. No doubt she would not give up Meowth's location and that would cost her dearly. He knew she loved the mouthy cat far more than she would ever admit to. Despite her frequent outbursts of violence and threats to his life.

"What was that?!" Olivia sounded as though she didn't know whether to be confused or angry and was settling somewhere between the two. "Are you okay? I thought you two were friends? James, she attacked you!" She wrapped an arm around him, steadying him as he rubbed his tender abdomen and forced himself to straighten without throwing up.

"No time. I have to catch up to her before they do."

He pulled away and staggered for the door, still wincing with the pain. Outside he looked around wildly, wondering which direction to start with. Jessie would probably go north, he reasoned. That was the fastest route out of town that wouldn't require doubling back and running right into the midst of her pursuers.

Mercifully it didn't take him too long to catch up with her and he soon caught sight of her dodging into an alley. His blood ran cold though when he saw the two Rockets following her. Seconds later he heard her scream and the sounds of a struggle.

He sped up, rounding the corner just in time to wince in sympathy as he saw the male rocket go stumbling over his unconscious female partner, clutching at his crotch, finally joining her on the ground.

James raised his hands in a gesture to take it easy as Jessie's wild gaze came to rest on him. She relaxed slightly when she saw him and shook her head. "I should have hit you harder."

"Please don't!" He retorted, only half kidding.

"James..." She started then trailed off, not knowing what to say to him, finally settling for "You don't understand."

"Yes I do." He shot back. "You think by leaving me behind you can protect me but you can't! I'm not leaving you alone to face this! What kind of person do you think I am? He choked on the words, unable to continue his tirade. "We were best friends for half our LIVES, Jessie!"

Years of scheming together had made him adept at following her thought processes and he took a step back, realising that she was considering hitting him again and making a run for it.

Once out of range he added "Besides, how far do you think you're going to get? Route 30 is completely closed off and you'll never get back the way you came. And where would you go if you did? Back to Kanto? They'd catch you in a day, Jess!"

Seeing her start to waver he took a step forwards. "Look, please just come back with me, we can figure this out. If you lie low for a bit they won't find you and they'll give up. They wouldn't come to the house anyway, they have no reason to. They don't know I'm here, remember?"

He took another step and saw the moment that she gave in. All the fight seemed to go out of her and he finally felt safe approaching her and pulling her into an awkward hug. Jessie didn't fight him and after a moment even returned the gesture, leaning into the embrace with relief.

James was trembling slightly and somehow this was reassuring, reminding her of all the times they had clung together in sheer paralysing terror for their lives.

It wasn't the idea of putting her life in James' hands that bothered her. She trusted him as much as she ever had. It just made her feel guilty, waltzing back into his life after 4 years and expect him to risk everything to save her, like nothing had ever happened.

Then there was Olivia. Like it or not she wasn't the only female in his life anymore. He had a life here now and their egos weren't going to be the only casualties if this whole thing went belly up.

Realising that she was starting to tear up, she wiped her eyes roughly and pulled away from her friend.

"Enough of this sentimental stuff," She said brusquely, pushing him to arms length. "I love you too, there's no need to get all sappy about it. We should get back while we still can but as soon as I find a safe way to get out of town, I'm going. I wasn't kidding, you know? If you think they won't hurt Olivia just for being married to you, you're deluding yourself. Besides, you have to take care of Meowth. He is one dead kitty if they get hold of him."

James snorted at the thought of Meowth clawing at whatever grunts tried to bring him in. "I'd be more worried about the grunts!"

It took them more than an hour to get back to the house without being seen and Olivia was clearly beside herself when they finally came stumbling back through the door, both white faced and bruised after a near confrontation with a team that was slightly more competent than they were expecting. They had ended up diving head first over a wall to avoid them, only to find that the ground was lower on the other side, resulting in a somewhat painful landing.

Carnivine was out of his pokeball in the middle of the living room with Meowth wrapped in his vines. The grass Pokemon was apparently completely unconcerned with the increasingly furious and creative threats from the other Pokemon and appeared more interested in watching a battle play out on the TV.

"James!"

The shriek was the only warning he got before he was slammed back against the door frame with his wife half strangling him in a hug and Carnivine gleefully chomping on his head.

Meowth, now free from the other Pokemon launched himself at Jessie, fury-swiping her twice across the face.

"What was you t'inking!"

"I was thinking of protecting you two imbeciles, since its clear that you both have a death wish!" Jessie snapped, her temper flaring up.

"Obviously, since my husband is STILL protecting you after you ATTACKED HIM!" Olivia snapped angrily. "Is that how you treat people who have been nothing but good to you?!"

"Don't you dare presume to know anything about me! You really think a punch in the gut would be the worst thing to happen to him if they found out that he'd hidden me? Do you know what they do to deserters?!"

Her voice had risen steadily until she was almost screaming the last few syllables in Olivia's face.

James hastily inserted himself in between them as he saw Olivia readying herself to scream back at Jessie.

"Ladies!" James called, raising his own voice to be heard over them.

They both subsided with vicious glares that seemed to promise that the discussion was anything but over.

Surprisingly it was Jessie who was the one to turn away, sinking onto the couch and dropping her head into her hands.

To his relief, Olivia turned away too, shooting Jessie a filthy look and snatched up Carnivine's Pokeball, attempting to persuade the grass Pokemon back inside.

James just watched his wife as she struggled with the overly affectionate Pokemon, suddenly finding himself too tired to even contemplate trying to control his errant charge.

Jessie was rubbing her temples, looking more and more irritated by the second. Even though he could see her anger slowly boiling over he still jumped when she finally lost her temper, shot up and snatched the ball from Olivia, rounding on Carnivine and bellowing "JUST GET IN THE DAMN BALL!" Carnivine promptly vanished in a flash of red light and she sank down again, looking drained.

Olivia froze in place, mouth opening and closing a few times before she turned her back on them both and went to look out the window, her face a silent mask of fury.

Jessie thrust Carnivine's ball into James' hand and scooped Meowth into her lap, scratching his ears when he protested at being treated like a pet.

Meowth scowled for a moment and then settled, knowing that Jessie probably wouldn't want to hold him for long. Her moments of vulnerability were usually short lived. Even Arbok had usually put up with it, despite the fact that snakes really weren't made for cuddling.

He was right. After about a minute she straightened up and loosened her grip on Meowth, seeming to have recovered from her brief depression. He waited a moment before jumping to the ground, not wanting to offend her and risk triggering one of her famous mood swings.

Luckily she seemed to be over it and her attention turned to James who had flopped down next to her, looking exhausted.

"Sorry about..." She gestured towards his stomach.

"Its okay. I've had worse. Mostly from that electric rat. Just remind me next time I try to stop you, that it hurts."

She smirked slightly but still felt a little twinge of guilt when she saw him wince sitting up.

"So... If they've closed route 30 I guess route 29 must be..."

"Sealed up tighter than a Nun's..." James finished for her but stopped mid sentence as his wife gave him a scathing glare.

He made a mental note to watch his language, While Jessie might laugh, having never laid any claim to being a lady, Olivia was a little more properly spoken. She did not often appreciate crude or vulgar humour. He had grown quickly used to behaving like a gentleman and had even grown to like it but it was all too easy to slip back into old habits. It had been almost two years before he stopped mentally assessing buildings for objects of value and potential ways in and out.

"So no way out then." Jessie's despondent tone drew him back to the present and he looked up at her.

"Not unless you want to swim."

She looked up, interest piqued for a moment and he shook his head vehemently.

"Trust me, you do NOT want to swim. It's miles, and we don't exactly have the best track record with Gyarados. "

"You'se not gettin me to swim!" Meowth piped up helpfully.

"Shut your trap, feline, you're not coming! James, I HAVE to get out of here! They find me and they find you too!"

"For the LAST time! I will not let you do this alone! Get that straight and move on!"

"Neither am I! Who knows what you knuckleheads'll do without Meowth to scratch some sense inta ya!"

Jessie stared at them both for a moment, mouth opening and then closing again as she thought better of whatever she was going to say.

There was silence for a moment before Olivia exploded in anger. "So that's it then?! Four years of marriage and you're going to go swanning off with a woman you haven't seen in years, who's brought no end of trouble to you, hurt you, spoken to me like dirt after I sheltered her from a criminal organisation and you're not batting an eye at the thought of SWIMMING to Azalea Town and going on the bloody run!"

Olivia had barely taken a breath throughout her whole tirade. She was breathless, face flushed with fury and to James she had never looked more beautiful.

He remembered in that moment what had first drawn him to her. They had fought the first time they met. It had been Olivia's nephew whom he had first noticed. A boy of about 9 practising in the park with his friend.

He had been using a Koffing which had apparently belonged to his father and James had paused to watch the battle. The boy lost to his friend's Bulbasaur and had returned to his aunt looking pretty downtrodden. Unable to resist, James had approached him.

He had a short conversation with the boy, whom he had found out was called Jake and had suggested that the boy make better use of Koffing's smog attack and then circle around in the confusion to hit from behind. Jake had been excited about this possible new technique and against his better judgement, James had agreed to practice with him for a while. Poor Mime. Jr had been soundly beaten but the little Pokemon was a trooper and had taken the defeat in stride.

Olivia had watched them with an eagle eye and having seen James' suggestions in action had deemed the whole thing immoral and a cheap, dirty trick.

They had gotten into quite a debate about it and she had gotten so angry with him, telling him off for butting in and filling her nephew's head with cheap shots and ways to cheat.

James had retorted that it wasn't cheating, simply making use of a legitimate and legal move and added that it was stupid not to use every trick in your arsenal when your opponent far out-levelled you. He had ended up losing the thread of the point he was trying to make, too preoccupied with the way her cheeks were flushing with self righteous annoyance.

He was brought back to the present by the sound of Jessie apparently taking great offence on his behalf and attempting to defend his somewhat dubious honour.

He stepped between them again, grabbing Jessie and forcing her backwards when she didn't immediately back down. To his relief, she didn't resist and took a couple of steps away.

"STOP it! No one is swimming anywhere! For Gods Sake why can't you both just stop shouting!"

Meowth polished his claws casually against the side of the couch. "Say the word Jimmy an I'll..."

"You'll do nothing you mangy alley cat!" Jessie snarled. "Stay out of this if you know what's good for you!"

Meowth gulped and slowly backed up to the door. "Ya know I think there were some catnip cookies left n I'm gettin' hungry. You'se lot can sort yourselves out!" With that he turned and bolted from the room, tail between his legs.

James tamped down the urge to flee with him and turned back towards the source of his misery only to find that Olivia was looking rather shamefaced and Jessie was doubled over with a hand over her mouth trying to suppress her giggles.

Staring at them and wondering if they had both lost their minds he ventured the question. "Did I miss something?"

Jessie gave up and collapsed to the carpet howling with laughter, tears of mirth running down her face. "I never thought I'd see the day two women fought over you! And I never thought I'd be one of them! Is it really weird that I'm ridiculously proud of you right now?" She almost cried the last bit before succumbing completely to hysterics.

Yes... yes, its weird! And so are you if you think anything about this situation is funny!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing and began to seriously wonder if she had genuinely cracked.

"Well I am! Way to go, James, I never knew you had it in you!" She howled.

"Oh my God, you really have lost it." He muttered, bending to haul her off the floor and sit her on the couch. As he sat her down he heard a smothered laugh from behind him and turned in exasperation to see Olivia laughing too. "Sorry. I'm sorry, James, it isn't funny." She spluttered.

"Clearly the two of you think it is." But he couldn't stay angry, too relieved that they were actually agreeing on something.

It took ten minutes and several false stops for them to recover and finally they all sat down together to talk it through.

"The way I see it, we have two options. Either Jessie stays here and hides or I find a way to smuggle her out of town. Maybe the swimming thing isn't too far off. We could build another sub?"

"That thing took all three of us to pedal it and it wasn't exactly reliable. We don't have the option of surfacing anywhere we happen to crash this time, its too risky." Jessie shook her head. "Try again."

"A balloon?"

"Is there an airfield near here?"

"No. Damn."

"James." Olivia interrupted.

He stopped and looked at her questioningly.

She took a deep breath, deciding just to go ahead and tell him. She had been keeping it from him hoping to wait until Jessie was gone before breaking the news but if he was considering going with her... She couldn't lose him.

"If you're thinking of leaving..."

"Just for a while." He cut her off. "Just to get Jessie out of here and make sure she's safe. Then I'll be straight back I swear."

If you're thinking of leaving." She continued doggedly. "There's something you ought to know."

"What's wrong?" He looked concerned, his full attention now on his wife.

"James, I'm pregnant."

~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~

Well there you have it. As usual, please R&R and would love to hear your thoughts.