An hour later, a Team Rocket guard approached and opened the door of the cell. Keeping his eye on Professor Oak the entire time (he had heard from some of the other Team Rocket members about what the older man had done to Giovanni), he jerked his head in the direction of the hallway.

"Come with me. The boss needs you in the lab," he ordered.

"What makes you think I'll come with you?" Professor Oak challenged. He was ready to take on this intruder, too.

"Because if you don't, then Delia might not like it very much." Giovanni emerged from the shadows.

"You son of a…" Professor Oak advanced towards Giovanni but was stopped by the Team Rocket guard.

"Temper, temper, Professor. You really should work on controlling that." Keeping his distance from Professor Oak (he didn't want a repeat of their last conversation), Giovanni faced Delia. "Did he tell you that he nearly killed me earlier?"

"What?" Delia was astonished by his revelation.

"Apparently he thought I was threatening you and nearly strangled me. He's very possessive of you, you know. I can understand that feeling."

As Delia's eyes met Giovanni's, she saw something familiar in them. Even though it was a mere flicker of the way that he used to look at her, Delia recognized it instantly.

My God, he does still care for me.

Giovanni turned back to the man who had nearly killed him. "Now, Professor, will you come willingly or will I have to make good on my threat from earlier?"

Delia, thinking that Giovanni was threatening Professor Oak, spoke up. "Go with him, Professor."

"What?"

"I'll be all right. Just go."

"Are you sure, Delia?" He certainly didn't trust Giovanni and gave him a look that clearly said so.

"You don't have to strangle me again, Professor. As long as you do my bidding, I won't harm her." Even though Giovanni wouldn't admit it, he was afraid of the older man. "Now go with my associate here. He will explain your assignment."

After giving Giovanni a look that clearly said that he would kill him if he laid a finger on Delia, Professor Oak reluctantly went with the Team Rocket guard.

As Professor Oak and the guard disappeared down the hall, Giovanni moved forward to close the door of the cell. Delia reached out and laid her hand on his arm.

"Giovanni."

At her touch, a jolt of electricity shot through his body, stirring up feelings for her that he thought he had abandoned long ago. The unexpected effect unnerved him.

"We need to talk." Even though Delia was still somewhat afraid of Giovanni, she was less afraid now that she had seen what she did in his eyes.

"All right, talk."

"Not here. Alone."

What is she up to, Giovanni wondered as he searched her face for any signs of deception. He knew that Delia, as an ex-Team Rocket member, could be quite clever. But as he looked into her eyes, something deep inside told him that he could trust her.

"All right. We'll go to my office." He unlocked the cell and guided her through the maze of dark passages to the hidden staircase. Once inside his office, Delia nervously sat down in the chair opposite Giovanni's desk. Giovanni took his seat and stroked the Persian that was contently sleeping on his desk.

"So. Are you going to plead for your boyfriend's life?"

"Professor Oak isn't my boyfriend. He's just a friend."

"That's not what he believes. He obviously cares a great deal for you, Delia. I used to feel that same way about you many years ago." He smiled at the memory. "We used to have some wonderful times together, didn't we?"

"I…I suppose so."

"Believe it or not, I do still care for you."

"You have a strange way of showing it." Giovanni's hateful tirade was still fresh in her mind. Just thinking about the awful things he said about her earlier brought a lump to her throat.

His voice softened. "Forgive me for some of the things I said earlier. You can understand my shock at the sight of seeing you again after all these years."

Uncertain of his sincerity, Delia looked into her former lover's eyes and saw with amazement that he was looking at her with the same desire that he had held for her many years ago.

"Do you ever wonder what things would've been like between us if you hadn't left Team Rocket, Delia?" He rose from his chair and moved to the other side of the desk to where Delia was seated. Slowly, he reached out his hand and touched her cheek. "Don't be afraid of me, Delia." His voice was gentle, almost kind.

"How can I not be?" Delia said in an anguished voice as she pulled away from his caress and fingered the small scar next to her lip. "After what you did to me?"

"Delia, I was angry, hurt, betrayed. For God's sake, Delia, I loved you! How do you think it felt for me to hear that the woman I loved was leaving me for another man? I know I shouldn't have hit you, but I was so furious..." Giovanni sighed. "Actually, the person I really hated was the man who took you away from me. But since he's not around anymore and you say that Professor Oak is just a friend." He took her face in his hands. "Perhaps we can begin again." Giovanni bent down and then kissed her slowly, seductively…the same way he used to kiss her when they made love.

For an instant, the feeling of his mouth on hers stirred up sensations of the old passion that they had once shared. "No, no, I can't! I can't do this!" Delia cried as she grabbed his wrists and pulled away from his kiss.

Giovanni's face hardened. "I knew it. You love him."

"No, Gianni…" Frightened, she let go of his wrists.

"Don't ever call me that." Only two women had ever called him Gianni…Lydia and Delia. He wouldn't let any of his lovers since then use his nickname; the name had too many painful memories associated with it.

"Why? Why not? Gianni, please…"

"I said, DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" Delia cringed as he raised his hand. "Don't worry, Delia, I'm not going to hit you. I have better control of my emotions since the last time we parted." He stood up and returned to his chair on the other side of the desk. "This meeting is over," Giovanni said coldly as he jabbed at button on the intercom.

"Why? Because I won't sleep with you? Is that it?"

He looked up at her. The softness had disappeared from his eyes. "Delia, you're forgetting that you're my prisoner. If that was what I wanted, I could easily force you against your will. Although I think the good Professor would do more than strangle me the next time he saw me if I did that," Giovanni said with a touch of amusement in his voice.

"Then what is it?"

"If I have to explain it to you, Delia, then you obviously don't know what I want." As a Team Rocket guard opened the door, Giovanni motioned to him. "Take her back to her cell."

"No!" Delia pulled her arm out of the guard's grasp. She had hoped that by appealing to the old feelings that Giovanni obviously still had for her she would've been able to persuade him to let them go.

But she had failed. In desperation, she tried another tack: something that she had never told anyone, not even her late husband.

"Giann…Giovanni, when I left Team Rocket, I was pregnant. Pregnant with your child."

Giovanni looked up in shock. "What?"

"Yes, I was carrying your child…our child…when you hit me!"

Giovanni motioned to the guard. "Let her go." Visibly shaken, Giovanni crossed the room to where Delia stood trembling. "How do I know what you're saying is true, Delia?"

"Because I've never lied to you," Delia said as she choked back tears.

Giovanni tenderly lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Then you're saying that the boy, the one that won the Earth Badge the day I left those incompetent fools in charge of the gym, is my…"

Their conversation was interrupted when another Team Rocket guard ran into the room.

"Sorry to disturb you, Boss, but there's an emergency call from Jessie and James. They say it's urgent."

Giovanni swore under his breath. "Those idiots." He turned his attention back to Delia. "We'll talk more about this later." He motioned to the first guard. "Take her back to her cell."

---

Professor Oak had been frantic when the guard had returned him to the cell and Delia wasn't there. For what seemed like an eternity his mind raced with horrible images of what had happened to the woman he loved. Vowing that he was going to finish what he had started with Giovanni, he desperately searched the cell to try to find any way of escaping and finding her. A few minutes later, Delia and a Team Rocket guard appeared in the hallway.

Visibly relieved, he embraced her as the guard pushed her back into the cell. "Thank God you're safe, Delia. Did Giovanni do anything to you? Did he harm you in any way? If he did, I'll…"

At first she was surprised by his spontaneous display of affection, but then Giovanni's words came floating back:

He's very possessive of you, you know.

He obviously cares a great deal for you.

You love him.

Delia suddenly saw Professor Oak in a whole new light.

"It's okay, Professor…Samuel. I'm all right."

"Where were you? Where did they take you? I was so worried when they brought me back and you weren't here."

"I was with Giovanni."

His eyes blazed with fury.

"I was hoping that maybe he might still care enough for me to listen to me and let us go," Delia continued. "And he still does, believe it or not."

"What did he do to you? Tell me!" He was practically shouting at her.

"He kissed me. That's all. Nothing else."

But even that piece of news was enough to make Professor Oak livid.

"He did WHAT?"

"Calm down! Please calm down, Samuel," she begged. "Giovanni didn't hurt me. He isn't going to hurt me."

"How do you know that?" he raged. "You said he hit you."

"Because he thinks that Ash is his son."

The blood drained out of Professor Oak's face. "Ash? He's Giovanni's…" He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Yes," Delia repeated quietly. "Ash is Giovanni's son."

Professor Oak slumped to a sitting position against the wall. He didn't think he could take much more of this. First Delia telling him that she used to be in Team Rocket and now this.

Delia sat down beside him. She had decided to take a chance and tell him her secret because she knew that she could trust him.

"A few days after I left Team Rocket, I discovered that I was pregnant. Giovanni was the only one who could've been the father." Delia sighed and leaned her head back against the brick wall of the cell. "I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure how Will would take it."

"Did you ever tell your husband the truth?"

Delia shook her head. "No. I never told Will – or anyone else about it, for that matter - until now."

"So Ash doesn't know the truth, either?"

"No. And as far as I'm concerned, Will Ketchum was Ash's true father. That's the only truth he needs to know."

The sound of footsteps echoing in the corridor ended their conversation as both of them leaped to their feet. A Team Rocket scientist appeared in the doorway.

"Professor Oak, we need you in the lab again."

Delia gasped. "Eric?"

The scientist turned to her and also gasped in astonishment. "Delia?"

"You know him, too?" This day was turning out to be one filled with constant surprises.

"Yes. Eric and I joined Team Rocket at the same time. Matter of fact, we used to be partners."

Delia saw the hurt in Professor Oak's eyes. "Not that kind of partner," she assured him. "We worked together."

"What are you doing here, Delia? I didn't realize that you were back with Team Rocket again."

"I'm not, Eric. We're being held prisoner here." Delia's face brightened. "Maybe you can help us!"

"No. You know as well as I do what Giovanni would do to me. Besides, I came here for the Professor."

"You owe me a favor, Eric. How's your arm, by the way?"

"Oh, it still gets a little stiff sometimes, but…." He then realized what she was trying to do. Many years ago, he and Delia had broken into a Pokémon training center in Vermillion City. Eric had been caught by the center's owner and had badly broken his arm while trying to get away. Delia, who had managed to elude capture, disguised herself as Officer Jenny and convinced the center's owner that she had come to take Eric away to jail. Once the two of them were clear of the center, Delia had taken Eric to the hospital where Team Rocket doctors had been able to repair his injured arm.

"Delia," Eric said quietly. "I can't. Giovanni would…"

"Please, Eric?" Delia pleaded. "Team Rocket sticks together, remember?"

Eric regarded his ex-partner in silence for a moment, contemplating the consequences of crossing Giovanni. Finally, he spoke up.

"All right, both of you come with me." He released the pair from their cell and led them upstairs. As Eric was opening the door to the Team Rocket laboratory, they were confronted by a Team Rocket guard.

"Hey, what's she doing here?"

Eric had already thought of an excuse on the way. "The Professor was being extremely uncooperative earlier. I think he'll be more cooperative if he sees for himself what we'll do to his companion if he doesn't obey." Eric roughly grabbed Delia's arm.

The Team Rocket guard smiled sadistically and let them inside the lab. Once inside, Eric locked the door and pointed to a window on the far wall.

"We're only one story up. You should be able to climb out of this window. Head for the woods as fast as you can and don't stop running. We're about six miles due south of Celadon City. You should be able to find help there."

"But won't someone see us when we try to cross the courtyard?"

"Leave that to me," Eric said as he started searching through the chemicals that were stored on the shelf above his workbench. "I'll create a diversion. They'll be too busy dealing with the chaos here to worry about you. Do you remember the night we broke into the Pokémon lab at Saffron City, Delia?"

Delia smiled triumphantly. "Yes! Oh, Eric, that's perfect!" She hugged him. "Thank you."

"Just get ready to run," Eric said as he held up a flask containing an off-white solution and started pouring it into three small beakers. "This should do it," he said as he scooped up a handful of purplish crystals. He started placing the crystals under the openings of all the doors and windows in the laboratory as well as the air vents. He then gave Professor Oak and Delia each a beaker of the off-white liquid. "When I give you the signal, each of you start pouring this on the crystals. Not too much, though. It won't take a lot to create a huge amount of smoke. Ready?"

They both nodded.

"Good luck," said Eric with one last fond glance at Delia. "Let's do it."

---

Coughing and choking, the two blindly made their way through the window at the far end of the lab and dropped down outside into a courtyard surrounded by a low wall. As they raced across the courtyard, a coughing Team Rocket guard stuck his head out of the laboratory window and spotted them.

"Stop them! They're getting away!"

Professor Oak quickly helped Delia climb up and over the wall, then followed suit as he heard barking and snarling of Arcanines behind him.

"After them! They're over there!"

One of the dogs narrowly missed Professor Oak's heel as he fell over the side of the wall and landed in a bush next to Delia. Delia grabbed his arm and quickly helped him up.

"Sound the alarm! They've escaped!"

"Run, Delia!" He grabbed her arm and together they ran into the forest that surrounded the enclave.