A/N: PTSD is something that although very common in soldiers, is very common for survivors of trauma. So while Ash is dealing with it in some ways triggered by saving Misty. It is not indicative about how all those with PTSD are triggered. It is often a rest of the life struggle, what's important is being supportive and though some cases are very dangerous its important for those without it to know their limits. As Frodo put it some wounds go too deep that have taken a hold. Mental health is healthcare and must be prioritized. That's my PSA for this chapter. Hope you enjoy. Please review or send a message of feedback.
Skye was sound asleep in the room with her mom. She missed not having Charlie and August in the room with her, but after being captured with her mom for a day, she felt a little safer. Then came the yell startling her awake. Misty awoke as well, "Skye are you ok?" Misty asked.
"What was that?" Skye asked, her voice sleepy but worried all the same. Misty got out of bed stroking Skye's head holding her against her when the door burst open, with Charlie standing there holding his nose.
"Misty, please help! Ash is going crazy." Charlie said grimacing from his nose. Misty's mom instincts took over immediately grabbing a towel and holding it to Charlie's nose she sat him next to Skye saying, "Skye have him keep it there till it stops bleeding."
"Ok mom." Skye said as she took care of Charlie.
Misty moved quickly in the dark towards the yells. She found August struggling along with Pikachu trying to keep Ash from thrashing about. Ash screamed, "Get away from her Domino I am the one you want."
Misty without warning just got into Ash's face saying calmly, "I am right here Ash, I am ok, Domino is not hurting me." Slowly she was stroking his hair and though he kept resisting August's hold, his eyes came back and saw her eyes and he said like a wounded animal, "Misty."
"I am right here, you got us out." When he almost thrashed again Misty rested her head against his. Then slowly his breathing matched hers. Pikachu kept stroking Ash's hair, as Misty and August slowly put him back into his bed.
"Should I get Charlie back to bed?" August asked.
"No, just tell Charlie and Skye let me know if his nose doesn't stop bleeding. I'll stay here with Ash and Pikachu. You and Charlie can sleep in that room." Misty said, still looking at Ash like he was a fragile bomb. Just as August was outside the door she asked, "Has this happened while you and Charlie were with him?"
August sighed and said, "No, but I have had a couple aunts and uncles who have the same condition." Misty looked back at Ash before saying, "Thank you August, get some sleep I got this." Pikachu then looked over at Misty and said, "Pi-ka-pi."
"I know Pikachu. I hope he's ok." Misty said and at that Pikachu came to Misty's bed and snuggled with Misty as they went back to sleep eying Ash.
August when he came into Misty and Skye's room he saw Charlie and Skye with their eyes closed almost leaning into each other with their faces. "I can come back later." August said.
At that both pulled their faces away from each other with red streaking across their faces. "No!" They both said loudly.
"Ok." August said with a smirk, "How's your nose Charlie?"
"It's ok now, it stopped bleeding," Charlie said, now distancing from Skye, "How is Ash?"
"He is asleep, hopefully for the rest of the night." August said.
"Did this happen when you both stayed with him?" Skye asked.
"No." August said, "Your mom asked the same thing."
"What is it?" Charlie asked.
"Let's get some sleep, it's been a hard enough couple of days." August said getting into bed, "Don't do something you might regret tomorrow you two." Skye would have made a fuss at that comment but was distracted by August throwing a pillow at her and Charlie. Although it had certainly been an eventful night, the craziness of the last couple of days lulled them all back to sleep very quickly.
The next morning Misty woke up cuddled with Pikachu and saw Ash still sleeping. She never thought this was how they would spend their first night back in each other's lives. It was filled with a very different dream, not a nightmare followed by more nightmares. Going to check on the kids' room, she found all three still asleep. One thing she noted was Charlie and Skye's hands reaching for each other but not touching. They were in separate beds though. Getting some food for her and Ash she went back and Pikachu groggily woke up then smiled seeing Misty had brought a bottle of ketchup. Ash began to stir a little disoriented, seeing Misty in his room freaked him out. "Why are you here?" Ash asked.
"You had a nightmare." Misty said empathetically, "Charlie came and got me, Pikachu, August, and I got you to calm down and get back to sleep." It was then Ash noticed Pikachu happily eating his ketchup.
"You didn't have to do that," Ash said not wanting to meet her piercing gaze, "I am not–"
"Worth it…" Misty finished for him, "Ash even if you and I will never be a couple again, I will not let you self harm yourself or anyone else so long as I am around."
"Did I hurt you?" Ash asked, then seeing her face he clarified, "I mean more specifically when I was in my…nightmare."
"No, but you did bust Charlie's nose pretty good." Ash was about to get up when Misty came and sat him back down, "He is sleeping, you can apologize to him when he wakes up."
"Thanks for helping take care of me." Ash said, realizing he hadn't said it.
"How long have those been going on?" Misty asked with a tone of sympathy.
"I don't know…maybe since the 1st year of being captured." Ash said, "I don't remember the first time it happened, I just remember it definitely happened the first few nights I was alone after getting out."
Misty came up and said, "Eat some of this food." Ash took the food and ate it slowly which Misty can't ever really recall him doing. "Come out when you are ready, if you run from me now when I find you Ash…you will wish you died breaking me and Skye out." With that she left the room and Ash alone with his thoughts.
Misty went to the phone and dialed Delia, telling her she and Skye were ok, a bit shaken but ok. She also informed her they would be coming to Pallet later that day. The calls to Daisy, Tracey and her sisters were about the same. She then called Officer Jenny who was happy to see Misty before Misty said, "I will be coming in and giving my statement but I will not allow you to question my daughter or her friends as they are still underage and have no way of understanding their rights, and their parents have not consented for them."
Officer Jenny just nodded and said, "I look forward to seeing you soon." With that Misty left for Officer Jenny's station. When Ash came out finally with Pikachu and an empty plate he saw Charlie, Skye, and August sitting and talking. When they saw him they stopped talking. Ash said, "I am sorry to you three, especially Charlie for hitting your nose." Ash then asked somewhat awkwardly, "Is it broken?"
"No and I accept your apology, you didn't mean to." Charlie said with an understanding smile.
"Skye, I am sorry for scaring you, and for not being there for you." Ash said looking at his daughter as his daughter for the 1st time.
"Ash…I hope you stick around, you don't owe me an apology, just please don't hurt my mom again or my friends." Skye said, gesturing at Charlie and August.
"Fair enough, and August, thank you for helping Misty and Pikachu through that nightmare." Ash said to August.
"Your welcome and thanks for having my back with the cops." August said.
At that they seemed to settle down. Though Skye kept her distance as she and Ash couldn't really figure out yet what they were. When Misty came back she was happy to see all of them on friendly terms. At that she told all of them they were heading to Pallet Town right away. Since August finished packing before Ash and Charlie he saw that Skye and Misty were already ready. Especially since they only had the clothes and Pokemon they already had with them due to being kidnapped. "Misty, can I speak alone with you for a moment?" August asked.
"Sure," At that, Misty walked away from her daughter to a corner that wouldn't echo. "What's on your mind August?"
"Um, while I am sure you plan to ride with Ash, you need to know well…" August then described what he thought or was sure he saw Skye and Charlie almost do the night before. Misty showed all the skills of an elite four member and a mom just smiled and said, "Thanks for letting me know August, I will keep an eye on it, trust me."
When Ash pulled out Charizard, Pikachu hopped onto Charizard. Braviary was more than ready to fly again, August got aboard Braviary, Ash got on Charizard, just as Charlie was going to get on behind August, Misty spoke up and said, "Charlie, you are going to ride with Ash." Ash looked confused as did Skye and Charlie, "Skye you will ride behind me while we ride with August." She then strode over to Ash as Charlie began to mount on, "If you try to buck off Charlie or land prematurely, just know I will be right behind you with Gyarados then she flashed him something he didn't realize was on her wrist. Her mega stone scrunchie, and at that Ash gulped and said, "I understand Misty."
Skye kept looking fondly ahead at Charizard, which had Ash and Charlie, while sitting behind her mom who was riding behind August. The ride back was uneventful, no one chased them, no wild Pokemon attacked them in the sky. Ash landed Charizard a little ways down the road from his mom's house. Charlie looked at Ash who just held Pikachu and as he looked up he could see fear and regret in Ash's eyes. Then Braviary landed with Misty, August, and Skye, and just as Ash was about to run, Misty grabbed the hood of his duster saying, "Oh no you don't Ketchum." Slowly but surely they made the last little bit of walking to Delia's house and as they stood there waiting for her to answer the door. Ash again tried to run only for Misty to grab him and they all audibly heard him say, "I am not ready for this." Delia opened the door and was running down toward Misty and Skye when she stopped as did Mr. Mime. Delia dropped her wooden spoon and looked like she was staring at a ghost. Then slowly she moved forward as Ash held still waiting for his mom whom he now stood taller than. She brushed her hand over his beard and hair saying, "Ash is it really you?" Tears began to fall from Ash's eyes seeing the pain his mom was going through seeing him again.
"Yes mom." Ash said, "I am sorry for not coming back sooner." Delia then just embraced her son and looked like she would never let him go. Ash slowly embraced her back though he looked still unsure. As they held each other Ash began to cry with Delia then Delia let go of Ash and embraced Misty and Skye. "Please tell me Ash you protected them with your life. Skye, I know you have always called me Aunt Delia, but now that this is out in the open…maybe we can think of a different name another time" Skye said nothing, but gave a solemn nod.
"I did mom, it's complicated why I didn't watch over them sooner." Ash said. At that Delia took all of them inside and began pestering Ash with questions over how long only for him to be very clear he wasn't going to say not now anyways but that he was sorry for causing her pain. Misty then said, "Skye, why don't you take Ash up to your room and show him around." Mr. Mime and Pikachu were having a very good time catching each other up. Though Pikachu was getting frustrated it seems when Mr. Mime was asking questions too close to Ash's private feelings. When Ash entered with Skye he looked around and realized it was his old room minus a ton of pictures that used to be up. Now they were filled with pictures of Skye growing up and hanging out with Misty and Delia. Ash looked at them and said, "What is Delia to you, I am not sure I caught that?"
"I have known her as my aunt, but should I instead be considering her my grandma?" Skye said somewhat awkwardly, not looking at Ash.
Ash noticed her saying that and he said, "I think that will be between you and her, but for now Skye I want you to know I will be around even if I am not traveling with you."
"Look I am not trying to be mean, but until I see you again after I travel I won't know for sure that you mean it." Skye said, looking at him she then realized she had questions for him, "Who was your father? Aunt Delia never speaks of him."
Ash just looked out the window and held his old Alola Trophy and said, "The memories of him are fading from my memory, I remember he was a Pokemon Trainer but I didn't really see him after I was 5." At that Ash realized on some level he could have been different but in this way he felt very similar to his father. "I am sorry, I know you said you didn't need my apology but I owe you one anyways it's not particularly fun not knowing if your father still loves you or not or in your case not know if he knows you exist."
Skye looked at him, feeling all the words, "Is there anything I can't know?"
Looking at her he realized she must have thousands of questions and he said, "How bout you ask your questions and I promise not to bite your head off if it's something I don't want to answer." Sitting down on the ground Skye did the same and asked, "Did you know about me?"
"I did when I saw you and your mom 5 years ago, but I didn't know you were my daughter." Ash answered.
"So my mom never told you?" Skye asked.
"No, if I had known, you have to know, I wouldn't have hid from you or her." Ash said.
"Do you care if I call you Ash?" Skye asked.
"No, I haven't been in your life as a father and I shouldn't expect to be seen as one." Ash said.
"Do you expect me to after a certain point?" Skye asked.
"No, I know after seeing you and your mom, I may never earn that right to be called dad by you." Ash said.
"When did you and mom start dating?" Skye asked.
"After I became the monarch." Ash said.
"When did you know you liked her in that way?" Skye asked.
"When she mega evolved her Gyarados against me in a battle." Ash said.
"If you saw us 5 years ago why didn't you come home?" Skye said though she was now very afraid of the answer.
Ash just stared back at her and decided he needed to tell her or there would be no trust, "I…thought because you didn't have some clear physical traits of mine, that your mom had moved on from me."
Skye's jaw dropped. She didn't really expect the answer but she had some sympathy for Ash in that moment, even though it tore at her that he didn't come back to her mom because of her. "Does my mom know?"
"No, and now knowing you are mine I am even more ashamed of that pathetic excuse Skye." Ash said.
"How did you get captured?" Skye asked, "It's ok if you don't feel like answering that one though."
"I was captured with a message I thought came from Serena, it turned out to be a spoof of her phone, and when I landed there was a blonde woman waiting for me in Galar but, it was really Domino." Ash said though his eyes glazed over a bit at the memory.
"Do you still love my mom?" Skye said, and in this moment she realized she wanted her parents together.
"Yes, but I am not sure if that is going to be enough for us to make this relationship work as a couple. Not when I have eroded a ton of trust." Ash said.
"Have you dated anyone while staying hidden?" Skye asked.
"No, being someone who wants to stay hidden, requires no attachments." Ash said.
"Can I always call you?" Skye said, standing up from the ground.
"Yes, always and anytime Skye." Ash said giving her his phone unlocked which she sent a text to her phone and saved the number.
"My advice as a woman who has seen more than a handful of guys try to woo my mom, don't forget her birthday, or mine." Skye said, walking towards the door.
Ash stood up and asked his own question, "Did she date at all?"
Skye looked back at him, seeing how scared he was she said, "Ash you need to talk to her about that, but I hope you mean every word you said." When Skye walked away and Ash came back down the stairs, Delia was busy showing Skye some new cooking trick she learned. Misty was helping Charlie and August replan how to start over in Johto. Ash tapped Misty on the shoulder and asked, "Can we go for a walk to talk?" Misty didn't say anything but nodded and she held the door waiting for him. He left the duster and walked alongside her.
"Skye asked me a lot of questions in her room." Ash said as they walked through Pallet.
"Yeah she had been asking me probably a lot of them too." Misty said somewhat smirking.
"I want to be able to answer as much as I can for you Misty, just I am afraid of…" Ash started.
"Me killing you." Misty finished.
Ash hesitated before saying, "Not just that, I am afraid because I still don't like admitting what happened to me. I know you have an idea in your head of what I am like, but that person just isn't really there anymore. But I just…I do want to believe that maybe I can be the same guy before I was taken by Team Rocket."
"Ok." Misty said looking at him she just put her hand on his shoulder and said, "How bout you start with why you didn't come home 5 years ago. After last night I think I can safely assume whatever happened to you and Pikachu is beyond something I could guess or imagine."
"I came to Cerulean, I was hoping you were still there. I didn't have access to anything, it was just as I left for Galar with Pikachu and Charizard." Ash started as they kept walking Misty just listened, "When I got there, it said the gym was closed for the day and I knew if you were still the Gym Leader and not with the elite 4 you would be at your lookout."
"I don't know what you would have seen there, I was with our daughter enjoying the sunset." Misty said.
"It was because I saw our daughter, but…I wrongly assumed that you had met someone because she physically didn't look like me…" Ash said and now he felt like he was the biggest idiot. "I was afraid her father wasn't that far and seeing you look so happy holding her, I didn't want to ruin whatever you had with this other guy."
For a moment Misty just looked at him with a face that was between anger and sadness. On one hand she could empathize, but on the other hand he was the biggest idiot, children don't always have traits that physically resemble both parents. Some literally look like mini clones of one parent. As Misty was about to retort how stupid he was he said, "I now know I am the biggest idiot, and that I should have come home." Deciding to hold her hands so that he was looking into her eyes that were filled with tears, "I don't know if I will ever make up for that mistake, but it's bigger than any mistake I have ever made in my life. But I was also… I still wasn't really in a good place then. I was barely thinking straight. But I am here now and I will do right by Skye, in whatever way you both want me to." Before he even knew what was happening Misty was kissing him with such fervor he was floored and almost didn't wrap his arms around her as he met her passion with his own.