Fated Chapter 41: Last Day As A Family, a pokémon fanfic

Chapter 41: The Last Day As A Family

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do
...Snow Patrol - Run

Jack ran his hands through his hair, trying to process. He could feel Jessie's eyes on him. He had connected the dots, but his mind was sluggish as it labored to tell him how to react to it.

His daughter was here, on the mountain with him.

Put there by his older brother.

His brother. Giovanni.

The man who had caused Jack extraordinary pain. The same man who had caused his daughter extraordinary pain.

"I.."

It was one syllable, a one-letter word that had fallen from her lips as she struggled to say something to either confirm or deny his conclusions. It was a simple vowel, but it was enough to send him to the edge.

He lashed out and grabbed the nearest object, one of his chairs, and flung it across the room. It hit the wall and fell apart like it was made of matchsticks. He grabbed for something else, another chair that met the same end the other one. The stump he used as a coffee table was next, though even in his state, all he could do was overturn the massive piece of wood, spilling the dishes that had been on it to the floor in a crash. A plate smashed into the fire place. A kettle hit the door. Another chair flew across the cabin, this one hitting and destroying the barrier that hid the chamber pot from view.

Then there was nothing left for him to grab. He stood in the middle of the destruction, breathing hard with his pulse pounding in his ears.

He heard the rattling of chains and his head snapped to the right. Jessie had struggled to her feet, staring wide-eyed at the horror he had inflicted in a few short seconds. Somehow, she looked small standing there. Vulnerable.

It sucked the anger right out of him and replaced it with a void.

"How long have you known?" Jack questioned, his voice hollow and thick. Jessie winced.

"Since you told me how I was born," she admitted. He shut his eyes and looked ill. He stumbled and Jessie was sure he was going to fall over, but he caught himself on the video phone: the one thing that was still standing only because it was bolted down. He leaned heavily on it as he stared at her.

"I...I…"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you'd react," Jessie ventured, looking around the carnage Jack had caused, "A valid concern, I think."

Jack struggled to register this. He felt like his world had just been turned on its head again. All he could do was numbly nod his head.

"Gonna need more than that," Jessie prompted, "Say something."

But Jack didn't know what he could say in that moment. He had spent twenty-two years waiting for the moment when he would see his daughter again...and now, here she was, standing on a semi-healed broken ankle while chained to his cabin walls.

It was not what he had ever wanted for her.

"I'm sorry," he managed to get out, but the words were not enough. He knew that. His head swirled with information. Jessie being forcibly removed from her aunt's house after having to eat snow to survive. Jessie being bounced from foster home to foster home. His brother manipulating her and harming her. Jessie nearly dying on his orders. Jessie becoming the head of her own family. Jessie being on the run from Team Rocket. Jessie being ripped from her own family.

Sorry didn't quite cover it.

"It happens. I lose my temper too," Jessie said. It pained him to think that she thought that he was apologizing for his little temper tantrum.

"No," he shook his head, "Not for this. For all...for everything…for not being there. I'm so, so sorry."

Jessie shifted a bit, making the chains on her wrist clink against each other. She was in thought, thinking about what to say to that. For Jack, it felt like he could hear the minutes tick by...though that was impossible because his clock had been smashed in the chaos. Finally, she spoke, "I know."

It wasn't forgiveness, but Jack never expected forgiveness. She understood him and that was all he wanted at the point. He could earn her forgiveness. He approached her, wobbling a little as he did. He sank down to his knees and grabbed the butter knife that she was using to chip herself free. Then he set to work himself, digging the butter knife into the cabin wall next to the metal attachments that kept her chained up.

"What are you doing?" Jessie wondered, allowing herself to slide back down beside him.

"I will get you out of this," he vowed, "I will get you off of this mountain. You are not going to have the same fate as me and your mother. I promise you that, Jessie."

"Jack…" Jessie trailed off, "You don't-"

"I do," Jack corrected firmly, not stopping his task as he spoke, "You're being punished this way because of me...because of the choice your mother and I made twenty-two years ago. You were right; we should have took you and ran, no matter the consequences. We thought that we could control everything. We were wrong. We were so, so wrong..."

I stood at the Rocket Daycare entrance, pacing like a caged lion. It had been a week since Giovanni struck his bargain and in that time, I spent nearly every minute of it with Miya and Jessie. How could I not? As part of our plan, Miya would be taking Jessie to Viridian Peak that day, after the scheduled trip to the zoo with the daycare. It was something special for her birthday.

"We never should've delayed," Jack added bitterly, "That last day together...it was the last time we were truly a family and I cherish it, but we should've been smarter. We should've known better."

At that moment, I was pacing because Miya and Jessie were late. Of course, my mind leapt to the worst; that Giovanni sent his goons after them. I knew I should have walked with them to the daycare...

All my worries melted away when I saw Jessie and Cassidy forcing little Butch to skip with them down the sidewalk. Miya's ninetales was trotting along after the children just ahead of Miya, Catherine, and Amy. I breathed a sigh of relief and started forwards.

"Uncle Jack!" Jessie cried, darting towards me. I knelt down and picked her up, cradling her close to me. I took advantage of these moments...especially given the fact that it would be a month before I would be able to see her again.

"Hey, Princess," I breathed, looking over her head of red hair to Miya, who was looking at me with a look that nearly broke my heart. She knew what this whole thing was doing to me. I set Jessie down and she ran for her friends.

"Hey," I said, offering a little smile to the three women.

"Hi, Mr. Sakaki," Amy greeted out of habit.

"Hey, Jack," Catherine said smoothly, "How's that arm?" she asked.

"It's healing," I assured her.

"Hey," Miya said softly.

"Hey," I replied, unable to think of anything intelligent to say.

"It's such a nice idea, taking the children to the zoo," Amy said, "Butch has been talking about nothing else for days now."

"Cassidy's the same way. She keeps talking about seeing real houndour puppies," Catherine added.

"Jessie wants to take a pikachu home," Miya said, smiling wryly, "I keep telling her that she won't be able to, but…well…she's a bit stubborn," she laughed, shooting me a look.

Jessie couldn't help but to smile and asked, "Really? Pikachu?"

Jack didn't pause. Instead, he said, "You really liked pokemon."

"Like her mother," Catherine and I said at the same time. She glared at us, but I could see the corner of her lips twitch upwards.

"We'll have keep her from jumping in the pikachu enclosure," I promised, looking at my daughter, who was climbing on a fence with Butch and Cassidy.

"You don't mind us all tagging along?" Amy asked.

"Of course not," I assured her, "Delia and I are going to appreciate the help,"

"Good," Catherine said, pointing for Cassidy to get off the top rung of the fence, "You'd be insane to leave yourself and Delia to usher twelve kids around the zoo."

"Fourteen, actually," I corrected. I felt both Catherine and Miya's eyes on me.

"Little Jessiebelle, correct?" Amy asked, earning incredulous stares from me, Miya, and Catherine, "What? I am the secretary after all. I could write a book out of the things I know."

"Well, Jessie will be thrilled," Miya muttered sarcastically.

"As will Cassidy," Catherine sighed. I smirked, knowing that Jessie and Jessiebelle fought over everything and anything, be it blocks, dolls, princess wands, and even juice boxes. Cassidy and Jessiebelle didn't get along any better, usually because Cassidy always sided with Jessie. It was a good thing that Jessiebelle didn't hang around the daycare that often.

"Who's the fourteenth?" Amy asked me.

"Jessiebelle's betrothed," I replied.

"Poor kid," Catherine and Miya said simultaneously.

"James?" Jessie asked in awe, "I met James when we were kids?"

Jack paused to wipe a little sweat from his brow and nodded, "You don't remember?"

"No," Jessie answered, shaking her head, "That's amazing."

I glanced at my watch and realized that it was getting close to that time where we would walk the kids down to the zoo.

"Guys, we're going to go wait with Delia and the other kids," I called to Jessie, Cassidy, and Butch, directing them to where Delia was counting the rest of the children.

"We have nine, ten, eleven, twelve," Delia counted, smiling warmly as Jessie, Cassidy, and Butch joined the group,"Just waiting on the last two."

"I don't think we have to wait long," Catherine commented, nodding towards a long limo that had stopped at the curb.

"Woa!" the kids gasped as they watched to expensive vehicle. A butler opened the door and Jessiebelle jumped out, her red curls bouncing as she hit the pavement.

"Hurray up de-ah!" she called in a poor imitation of her mother's accent. James Morgan exited the limo, tripping slightly as he did so, his blue hair hanging into his face. He looked down at his feet as he followed Jessiebelle towards our group.

"Hello, Jessiebelle. Hello, James," I greeted.

"Uncle," Jessiebelle said curtly before joining the other kids.

"Hullo, Sir," James greeted shyly, slowly moving towards the group. I smiled at him.

"Excited for the zoo, James?" I asked, smiling at him as we rejoined the group. He nodded.

"Okay, kids, who's excited to go to the zoo?" I asked, and once I got the usual cheer, I continued, "Before we go, I want you guys to find a buddy who you'll spend the whole day with."

The kids immediately set to work finding their buddies. Cassidy immediately latched onto Butch's hand ("What else is new?" sighed Catherine, already resigned to accepting her daughter's obsession with the green-haired boy), while others had a few disputes over friends. Miya was helping Delia convince little Matt Hooper that Jill Green did not have cooties when I heard Jessie proclaim:

"I want to be your partner. What's your name?"

"James," came the shy reply, "What's yours?"

"Jessie."

I started and looked over the little heads and found my daughter had latched onto young James Morgan in the same way that Cassidy was latched onto Butch. I made my way towards them, preparing myself for trouble.

"James is my paw-tner!" Jessiebelle protested loudly, grabbing the boy's other hand.

"No, he's mine!" Jessie cried, tugging on James. Jessiebelle tugged back and I was suddenly reminded of when they had a tug-a-war match over a doll.

"Mine!"

"Girls! Girls!" I scolded, intervening and pulling James away from them. The poor kid looked shell shocked.

"Uncle Jack, I was James's partner first!" Jessie protested, staring up at me with those big blue eyes that made me melt.

"He's MY uncle!" Jessiebelle said nastily, "And James is ALWAYS my partner!" she said, a dangerous edge to the four-year-old's voice that both concerned me and scared me a little. I stared between my daughter and my niece, unsure of what to do. As Jessie's father, I naturally wanted to give her what she wanted, yet Jessiebelle was part of my mother's master plan to enter the Morgan family. After a moment, I turned to the only option that made sense. I knelt in front of James.

"He picked me, didn't he?" Jessie asked, somehow knowing the answer. Time and again, James had proven that he would always pick her.

"No," Jack said, and when he got the incredulous look that he had been waiting for, he added, "Of course he did."

Jessie huffed, "That's not nice."

"You didn't expect me to waste the opportunity, did you?" Jack teased with a small smile, "Anyways…"

"James, who do you want to be partners with?" I asked the boy. He blinked, looking as if he had never been offered a choice in his short life. He looked at Jessiebelle and then at Jessie.

"James?" I prompted.

"Jessie," he finally said, shooting a shy smile at my daughter.

"Alright," I said in a measured voice, "James and Jessie will be partners today and Jessiebelle will be partners with Kendra," I said, pointing to a little black-haired girl. Jessie gleefully grabbed James's hand and dragged him towards Butch and Cassidy.

"But-"

"Jessiebelle, it's final," I told the girl pointing towards Kendra. She stomped towards her partner, glaring over at Jessie. Oh, brother.

"Okay, let's walk with our buddies!" Delia said, leading the kids two-by-two down the street. I walked behind with Miya and Catherine.

"Is that Jessie with the Morgan boy?" Miya asked me.

"Our daughter seems to have taken a shine to little James," I deadpanned.

"Four years old and she's already fighting over boys. You guys are so screwed," Catherine laughed.

"What about yours?" I asked, "She's practically attached to Butch."

"I've come to terms with that and someday, far into the future, I will gladly welcome him as a son-in-law," she quipped, smiling, "Meanwhile, you two can deal with that," she pointed towards Jessie and James, who still had their hands clasped, and to Jessiebelle, who was still glaring.

"We're screwed," I sighed dejectedly. Miya laughed.

Jessie sat there for a moment and blinked, trying to remember that day, that trip to the zoo, when she met the love of her life for the first time. She couldn't believe it. It seemed too surreal. She had always said that her and James first met at Pokemon Tech when she noticed that he was as tormented as she was. Now…well, now she had a new story, one that no one would ever believe, one that she barely believed. She remembered back to when James proposed, spouting off about fate and destiny. She had laughed and said destiny had nothing to do with the way she felt about him, but could he have been right? They had been thrown together when they were children, as improbable as it may have seemed, being that she was the poor, illegitimate daughter of the heir to a crime organization and that he was the rich, planned son of a wealthy aristocrat. And if that wasn't crazy enough, they had encountered each other again at Pokemon Tech, becoming fast friends despite the fact that he was the wimpy rich boy and that she was the tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Stranger still, was when she left him with the bike gang to go strike out on her own, only to be thrown back together in Team Rocket training. Hope swelled in her. Despite their backgrounds and their different personalities, they always wound up together by some small twist of fate, be it a trip to the zoo or turning to Team Rocket in desperation. Maybe someday, even if they were millions of miles away from each other now, they would somehow be reunited. She smiled as she listened.

Jessie didn't let go of James's hand once the entire day, a fact Jessiebelle clearly wasn't too fond off. After a few hours at the zoo, we made our way back to daycare where Delia had Heath, Lana, and Daphne decorating. The children's eyes lit up at the sight of balloons, banners, and, most importantly, cake. All of this was for one purpose: Jessie's fourth birthday. It felt like I had lead in my stomach. I had to go to the back office, just to escape the fact that I'd be separated from my daughter for the first time since she was born. I felt queasy.

Miya followed me.

"Jack, you know it's only temporary," she reminded me. I looked over at her.

"It feels like forever," I managed to get out. I felt her hand on my back as I gripped the sides of the desk for support, "Don't go," I murmured, sounding like a child as my voice trembled, "I'll protect you both…just don't leave."

"You know this is how it has to be," she reminded me, "It's the only way to make sure she's safe."

"It just...I-"

"Jack, it will be okay. We will be okay," Miya promised, "I'll be gone for a few days to get Jessie settled with my sister and then we can start preparing. You know the plan."

I did know it. And it was all hitting me at that moment. Something just didn't feel right. It felt like the end.

"Marry me," the words tumbled from my lips, but I meant them both. She blinked for a moment.

"What?"

"We'll do it when we take off in December," I planned, "We'll go to some faraway place and then we'll find and justice of the peace-"

"Two criminals in a courthouse?" Miya teased, smirking at me all the while. I managed a smile.

"Sounds romantic, eh?" I replied.

"I love you, Jack," she told me as she moved in for a kiss, "and when the time is right, I will marry you."

"I love you too," I echoed.

"You never got married, did you?" Jessie wondered, frowning over at him.

"No," Jack answered truthfully.

"Because you were here?" she asked.

"Yes," Jack nodded, digging the knife deeper into the wood, "and that just makes that last day more bitter than sweet. None of our plans worked out."

Catherine, Daphne, and little Cassidy came with us to the bus station and waited with us for a little while. They left shortly before the bus came, allowing me, Miya, and Jessie to have one last moment together as a family.

"Uncle Jack come too?" Jessie asked, tugging at my sleeve. How I wanted to say yes.

"Sorry, Princess," I told her, kneeling down to her height, "I have to work, but I'll see you real soon."

"But I'll miss you," Jessie pouted.

"You'll have Vulpix," I reminded her, "She'll be there with you the whole time. You'll have a lot of fun together at your aunt's."

She didn't look convinced, so Miya tried, "Honey, when you see Uncle again, you'll have so many stories to tell him."

"And I want to hear them," I said to my little girl, "All of them. Every single one. Just pretend I'm there right with you through it all."

"Was that the last time we saw each other?" Jessie suddenly demanded, almost making Jack jump, "It sounds like it. I mean look at us now...we're reunited and we've been telling each other stories."

"There is something kind of poetic about it," Jack agreed, "but that was not the last time we saw each other. I did see you a month later, as promised. It just wasn't under ideal circumstances."

"What were the circumstances?" Jessie asked.

Jack seemed to steel himself for a moment and then he whispered, "Tragic."

TBC

AN: Next chapter will be up tomorrow.