His heart leapt at the sight of Delia waving from the porch of the Hale mansion. He quickly jumped out of the car and was immediately surrounded by Ash and his friends.

"Professor Oak, you wouldn't believe what we saw…"

"And then Molly and Ash's mom…"

"Entei was able to break the force field and then we…"

Even though he was happy to see Ash, Misty, and Brock again, the one person he wanted to make certain was all right was Delia. Professor Oak held up his hands, motioning for silence.

"Listen, I know you're all excited and have a lot to tell me about what happened in there, but first I want to go talk to Mrs. Ketchum. Besides, Officer Jenny needs to speak with all of you."

"Officer Jenny?" A love-struck Brock raced over to her and took her hand. "Officer Jenny, I'll tell you everything about Entei, then you can tell me everything about you!"

Misty grabbed his ear and dragged him away. "I'm going to tell you a thing or two, mister. Come on."

As Ash followed his friends over to Officer Jenny, Samuel bounded up the stairs to where Delia stood. Even though he desperately wanted to embrace her, to touch her again, he wasn't going to make a scene in front of a bunch of people. Taking her arm, he spoke loudly enough for everyone to overhear.

"Why don't we go inside and you can tell me all about everything that happened? I'm sure you have valuable information to share about Entei."

Delia smiled as they opened the door to the mansion. Once inside the hall, Samuel quickly shut the door and embraced Delia so tightly that she could barely breathe.

"Oh, Delia, thank God you're safe. I was so afraid I'd never see you again, hold you again." He could barely control himself as he kissed her.

"It's all right, Samuel. I'm all right," she said reassuringly as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Let me look at you." He stepped back from her and took her face in his hands. "Are you hurt? Did Entei harm you in any way?"

"No, Samuel. I'm fine."

"Thank God." He kissed her again, this time with unrestrained passion. The realization that he had nearly lost her had made him realize just how much he loved her. Now he was never going to let her go again. He wanted to touch her all over, to make sure she really was there and not some illusion. Out of the corner of his eye, he searched for a couch, a sofa, anything. There was a couch in the adjacent sitting room, but to his dismay he saw that it was directly in front of a huge picture window. He desperately wanted to make love to her, but he wasn't about to give everyone outside a free show. Spying a darkened alcove off of the main hall, he pulled her inside it.

"I want you now, Delia." His voice was insistent as he unbuttoned her sweater.

"Now? What if someone comes looking for…oh, Samuel." His hands were already wandering upward inside her shirt.

"Right now, I don't care. You're all that matters to me now." As she started to undo his belt, they were both startled by the sound of voices outside.

"Did anyone see where my mom went?"

"I think she and Professor Oak are inside, talking."

"Hey, Mom? Are you in there?"

Samuel quickly removed his hands as Delia pulled down her shirt. "Oh, no. It's Ash!"

Hastily, the pair tried to put themselves back in order. Samuel snatched Delia's sweater off of the marble floor and tossed it to her.

"Wait," she hissed. "Your face." She quickly rubbed the lipstick marks off of his face as he fumbled with his belt.

As the voices and footsteps accompanying them grew louder, Delia tucked in her shirt, buttoned her sweater, and smoothed her hair.

"Mom? Hey, Mom! Professor Oak!"

As the door latch rattled and the hinges began to squeak, Samuel and Delia emerged from the alcove.

Ash's head emerged in the doorway. "Oh, there you are, Mom. Officer Jenny wants to talk to you."

"Tell her I'll be there in a minute, dear," Delia said brightly, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Okay." As Ash's head disappeared, both Samuel and Delia exhaled a sigh of relief in unison.

"That was close," Delia said as she started down the hallway. Both jumped as Ash reappeared.

"Oh, sorry, Mom, Professor Oak. I didn't mean to startle you. Skyler said that he needed to talk to you, too."

"Okay, Ash. I'll go see them now." With a "sorry, sweetheart" glance at Samuel, Delia made her way to the door.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Mom," Ash said as he hugged his mother.

"I'm glad you're all right, too, Ash," Delia said as she went outside.

That's weird, Ash thought as he turned to follow his mother out the door. Mom kind of smells like aftershave.

"Just a second, Ash. I believe we have something to discuss, don't we?"

Ash turned around to face a scowling Professor Oak.

Ash gulped. "Uh…discuss what, Professor?"

"Let me refresh your memory. I believe I told you earlier that we were going to have a little talk about you not telling me that you were going to rescue your mother."

"Oh, that." Ash had hoped that Professor Oak would've forgotten about the previous incident.

Professor Oak pointed in the direction of the sitting room. Ash reluctantly went into the room and sat down on the couch.

Professor Oak followed Ash into the room, folded his arms, and stood in front of the visibly cringing boy.

And now, Ash, I'm going to drill some sense into that stubborn head of yours.

"Ash, even though you meant well by trying to rescue your mother, what you did was impulsive, foolish, and quite dangerous. You nearly got yourself, your friends, and your Pokémon killed. Can you give me a good reason for doing what you did?"

Ash was silent for a moment, trying to come up with a decent excuse.

"I'm waiting for an answer, Ash."

"I…I…well, you were taking too long! I didn't want to wait around doing nothing while Entei had my mom!"

"Doing nothing? Ash, I spent hours going through Professor Hale's notes searching for any clues that might help get your mother back!"

"But you were taking too…"

Professor Oak cut him off. "Didn't you think that there may have been a reason why I was taking so long? You have to analyze the situation before you jump in headfirst. Damn it, Ash, you've always been too impulsive for your own good! You can't just go running off like you did without letting anyone know where you were going. What if something had happened to you while you were in the crystal tower? If it hadn't been for that television report, I wouldn't have had any idea where you had gone. I wouldn't have been able to help you."

"But Brock and Misty and Pikachu were with me," Ash protested weakly.

"And suppose something had happened to them? Then what would you have done?"

"I…I don't know."

"You were lucky that Lisa finally told me where you were, although I did give her a piece of my mind for withholding the information that you and your friends had left without telling me. At least she had enough sense to give you her Poké gear. And didn't you consider that maybe I wanted to come with you?"

Ash was surprised. "No, Professor Oak."

Professor Oak sighed in exasperation. "That's just it, Ash! You don't think! You just plunge headfirst into a situation without considering the consequences." He stared hard at Ash, who appeared to be sinking further and further down into his seat.

I'm sorry that I have to be so hard on you, but I don't know any other way to get it through that thick skull of yours.

After a rather uncomfortable moment of silence, Professor Oak relented. "Look, Ash," he said in a more sympathetic tone, "your mother worries about you all the time."

And so do I.

"She's afraid that something's going to happen to you if you keep pulling these crazy stunts of yours." Professor Oak sat down in the chair next to Ash and pushed up the left sleeve of his lab coat to reveal a two-inch long scar on his forearm. "Do you see that scar, Ash?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah."

"I wasn't much older than you, maybe fourteen or fifteen, when I got that. It was during my Pokémon training days. I was looking for new Pokémon to battle when I came upon what appeared to be a lone Houndour."

"But don't Houndour travel in packs?"

Professor Oak smiled. "I see that you have learned something during your journeys. Yes, you're right. But I didn't even think about that at the time. All I was interested in was getting that Houndour. Sound familiar, Ash?"

Ash smiled slightly and nodded.

"Being determined to capture as many new Pokémon as I could, I chased the Houndour until I had it cornered. Just as I was getting ready to give my Azulmarill the command to attack, I looked up and saw that we were surrounded by the rest of the Houndour pack. There must've been about fifteen or twenty of them."

"What did you do, Professor?"

"Ran like hell. But I wasn't fast enough and one of the Houndour caught me on the arm and pulled me to the ground. Just as the rest of the pack was closing in on us, another Pokémon trainer happened to show up. Her name was Agatha."

"Agatha? Of the Elite Four?"

"That's right. Together we were able to drive off the pack. I was lucky that I got out of that with just this scar." Professor Oak's face darkened. "Unfortunately, my Azulmarill wasn't as lucky."

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"Azulmarill tried as best as it could to keep the rest of the Houndour away from me, but there were just too many of them." Professor Oak's eyes met Ash's. "They mauled it, Ash."

Ash gasped. "Oh my God."

"And every day I have to live with the knowledge that because of my impulsive, irresponsible behavior, one of my Pokémon died. Died trying to save me. Every time I look at this scar, I think of Azulmarill." He pulled the sleeve of his lab coat back down and looked at Ash, who had his head bowed. "Are you all right, Ash?"

Ash quickly brushed away a tear with the back of his sleeve. "Yeah. I was just thinking about how horrible that must've been." He was imagining the cries of the wounded Pokémon as it tried desperately to escape the jaws of the savage dogs.

"It was, Ash. And the reason I'm telling you this is so that you won't ever have to go through what I did."

He laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Just stop and think before jumping into things, all right?"

Ash nodded determinedly. "I will, Professor."

"Good."

Delia stuck her head in the doorway. "Excuse me, but I think we're getting ready to head back to the Pokémon Center."

"Okay, Mom." Ash jumped up and went to rejoin his friends outside.

Delia went over to the chair where her lover sat. "What did you and Ash talk about?"

"Oh, we had a little talk about being more responsible," he replied as he reached for her hand. "A little father-son chat."

Delia turned pale. "Samuel, you didn't…"

"No, Delia. I didn't tell him. But don't you think he has a right to know the truth?"

"We've discussed this before, Samuel. We're not going to tell him until he's an adult."

"I know, I know," he said as he glanced out the window at Ash and his friends. "But there are times like today when I'd like to tell him that I'm his father. That I'm proud of him. That I worry about him. That I wish I could be there for him."

"I know, Samuel. But that's the way it has to be right now. Come on, let's head back to the Pokémon Center."

"Just a second, Delia." He pulled her down into his lap.

"Samuel, what are you…"

"It's okay, Delia. No one will see us." He wrapped his arms around her and, closing his eyes, laid his head on her bosom. "Right now, I just want to hold you."

Delia started stroking his hair, tracing the few dark streaks in the gray with her fingertips.

"I'm sorry about everything, Delia. The car, the Pokémon Center. Everything."

"I know, Samuel," she said as she pressed his head against her heart. "I know."