Chapter 44: Taken Away

Said goodbye, turned around

And you were gone, gone, gone
Faded into the setting sun,
Slipped away
But I won't cry
Cause I know I'll never be lonely
For you are the stars to me,
You are the light I follow

I will see you again, whoa
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, oh
'Til I see you again

Sometimes I feel my heart is breaking
But I stay strong and I hold on cause I know

I will see you again, whoa
This is not where it ends
I will carry you with me, yeah, yeah
...Carrie Underwood - See You Again

Jack looked over at her and shook his head.

"Jessie, don't be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for," he assured her.

"You gave up everything to make sure that I would be safe and now here I am...in the one place that you never wanted me to be. You said it yourself," Jessie reminded him.

"I did say that," Jack replied, "but it's not your fault that you're here. That honor belongs to my brother and his sick idea of irony. Your mother died here. I was banished here. Now you're imprisoned here."

"A family reunited," Jessie said humorlessly.

After a moment, Jack got to his feet and reached for the overturned end-table. He retrieved something from inside of it and returned it to Jessie.

"Here," he said, "So you can see what it was like,"

He held out a photograph to Jessie and she stared down at the precious picture of her four-year-old self sitting in between her mother and father on a bench at the zoo. Her red hair had the same curl. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked up at her parents, who were both looking down at her. Jessie's eyes landed on Jack, who was absolutely dashing in his youth. His red hair was spiked up, no traces of grey to think of. There were no lines on his face and it was apparent that he was lean and muscular. Then there was Miya. For the first time that she could remember, Jessie's eyes feasted on the her mother's face. Miya's aqua eyes were full of love for her only daughter and her curly hair was a rich purple that achingly reminded Jessie of her own daughter's.

"Wow," Jessie breathed.

"You looked like your mother. You have my eyes, though," Jack murmured.

"Rose looks more like her," Jessie told him. Suddenly, Jack remembered that he not only had a daughter. He had grandchildren as well. He had never even considered the possibility of grandchildren. He had been more focused on Jessie. Now...well, that had to change. He picked up the butter knife again and began to chip away at her bonds once more.

"What are you doing?" Jessie wondered, caught off-guard by the sudden movement.

"Somehow, someway, I will get you off of this mountain," Jack vowed, "You are not going to have my fate, Jessie. You're going to get off of this mountain. You're going to save James and you are going to hold your kids. I promise you that."

Jessie was speechless. All of her life, she had thought, at best, she would only ever have James and Meowth in her corner. Now, she had a father who had sacrificed his freedom for her and who was now vowing to help her find her freedom.

That's what a parent does, she thought, That's what I did.

"Thank you...Dad."

Jack paused for a moment as his eyes welled up. He looked over at her and asked, "Did you just…"

Jessie nodded, "You're my father...and after everything you've been through, everything that you've done for me, you deserve that title. A parent sacrifices everything for their kids. That's one thing I learned when I became a parent. That's why I'm here…"

0

It seemed like I blinked and all of a sudden the twins were walking. Talking. They were becoming little people right before my eyes and it was amazing. And frightening. Before I knew it, they were three, turning four in less than a month. I had the christmas tree up at the beginning of December, eager for the first christmas where they were actually excited for the holiday. Much to James and Meowth's chagrin, I was going to try my hand at baking again. I was determined that this year was going to be the year that I didn't botch up the cookies. The year before, I had added salt instead of sugar. The year before that, I had undercooked them, and then burnt them. The year before that, I had just outright burnt them.

This year, though, Rose and Henry had both taken an interest in helping me, so I stood at the edge of the kitchen watching as my son and daughter stood on the kitchen chairs at the edge of the island in the kitchen. Henry was stirring the batter. Rose was using cookie cutters on the cookie dough that had already been rolled. .

Rose had her purple hair pulled back into pig-tails to keep it out of the cookies. Her blue eyes were squinted in concentration as she carefully pressed the gingerbread man cookie cutter into the dough. She was a bit of a perfectionist and she was determined that the cookies would be absolutely perfect. That was why she was taking so long with her task, which was getting on her brother's nerves as the batter he was working with was getting harder and harder to stir while he waited for her to finish.

Henry was small for his age, taking after James. His red hair hung down into his bright green eyes and he was constantly pushing it out of his face. Still, he would throw a fit if anyone attempted to cut it. He was amazingly stubborn. He refused to let me help him stir, even though he was starting to sweat with exertion.

"Rosie, hurry up!" he protested, frowning over at his sister.

"Just about done," Rose said back, not taking her eyes off of the batter she was cutting.

"Rose-" Henry started, but the bowl he was stirring suddenly slipped from his hands and hit the floor. He winced and looked at me with what he apparently hoped was an innocent smile.

"Oh, Henry," I groaned, moving to clean it up. It was a good thing that I had decided to let the twins use plastic supplies. Most of the batter was no good now and Growlie enjoyed licking up what I couldn't salvage. Growlie had grown accustomed to following the twins around, especially when there was food involved. Teddy joked that he was going to be the fattest growlithe around. I set Henry up with his own batch of dough to use the cookie cutters.

"Mommy, he's not doing it right!" Rose protested in horror as she watched her brother haphazardly make his cookie shapes. Henry didn't have patience. He dove into things head-first and got things done as fast as he could. That didn't always bode well for him. He often had to do things over again and he often ended up hurting himself because he didn't think things through. This was one area, though, that he didn't need to go slow if he didn't want to.

"Rosie, let Henry be. He can make his cookies his way and you can make yours your way," I told her. She pouted, but she went back to her cookies, carefully (as carefully as a three-year-old, anyways) measured out her cookies. Henry was having a blast pressing the cutter into the dough and tearing away the leftovers. His ended up looking like little blobs of dough, but that didn't matter.

After Rose finally allowed her cookies to be placed on a cookie sheet, I put them in the oven and set a timer. Then the kids were sent off to play. I was just cleaning up the kitchen when I noticed movement out on the deck.

I frowned.

James and Meowth weren't due home for another hour and Teddy was off at school. I stepped out of the sliding doors and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a young Rocket Agent standing awkwardly at my steps.

"It's okay, Miss Jessie! It's me!" Mondo said quickly. I blinked in recognition and surprise. This tall, too-thin teenager with patchy stubble couldn't be the same baby-faced boy that used to follow me and James around. He looked tired and overworked, with bags in his eyes. If I looked closer, though, I could still see the warm brown eyes and the sweet smile I had come to recognize. I pulled him into a hug.

"Mondo, what are you doing here?" I asked. The last time I had seen Mondo, I was pregnant and he was telling us to leave Silver Shoal. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling.

"I was wondering if you were still here...well, hoping that you weren't really," Mondo explained, "There's a Rocket crew coming through here and I wanted to warn you about them."

I frowned. There hadn't been any sign of Team Rocket in Silver Shoal since James's grandpa got a lot of higher-ups arrested. I asked Mondo, "Why now?"

"I dunno," he said, "For a long time, the Boss wanted us to leave this place alone...especially while Domino, Butch, and Cassidy investigated who tipped off the authorities and got all those executives arrested."

I felt many things at that moment. Anger at hearing the familiar names. Fear for James's grandparents. Dread.

"Did they ever figure out who it was?" I asked, fishing for my own information. Mondo nodded.

"Some old man near Pewter City," he replied. My heart sank. It dropped to my feet when Mondo continued, "They sent a team out there. Then the boss was ordering for Rockets to come here."

"Fuck," I swore as the blood drained from my face. If Team Rocket found out that it was James's grandfather who turned in their agents, then it wouldn't be too hard to find us. I shook my head and asked, "When, Mondo? When are they coming here."

"Tonight."

"Fuck!" I swore again, turning on my heel to go back inside to start packing. Mondo was on my heels.

"Is there anything I can do?" Mondo wondered.

"Which way are they coming in?" I asked him.

"Kanto Mountain Road."

I groaned. That meant we would be forced into Johto. I asked, "Could you watch the twins while I pack?"

I didn't wait for a reply as I called for the pokemon. I sent Carnivine and Mime Jr. to go pack for James and Teddy. I handled the twins clothes with Seviper's help. Growlie was to stay by the twins and Wobbuffet was to get food together for the road.

We were ready within the hour and when James and Meowth arrived home, the smoke alarm was screaming, the kids were crying, and I was ready to scream. Still, the suitcases were packed and by the door.

"Uh, Jess?" James asked as he walked into the kitchen where I was scraping burnt cookies into the garbage. Meowth was perched on James's shoulder and was making a face at the smoky smell.

"Code red," I told them, "Mondo's in the living room and Team Rocket is on their way to Silver Shoal."

Their eyes widened, but I didn't give either of them the opportunity to speak.

"James, go pick up Teddy. Meowth, go start getting the pokemon in their balls. I'm going to call for hotel rooms in Cherrygrove town. We have to get out of Silver Shoal."

0

"On the run again," Jack murmured.

"Yeah," Jessie confirmed, "but this time, we weren't so lucky."

0

We had told the twins that it was a surprise trip, not wanting to scare them. Teddy, of course, knew. At eleven, he was eligible to leave on a pokemon journey, but in the last four years, he had found stability in Silver Shoal, something that he had never had before. He also enjoyed his schooling, particularly the art, music, and gardening classes. I could tell that he was upset to leave Silver Shoal from the way that he sat in the back just staring out the window the whole trip to Cherrygrove town. He had also sulked for most of the two days we had spent in the hotel suite, though, to be fair, he had to share a room with Meowth and the twins and that could drive anyone nuts.

It was actually a quaint little hotel, and given the size of our little family, we had gotten a nice suite with two bedrooms and a living area. It was hard with all of us in such cramped quarters, but somehow, we managed without any major fights. We knew that we'd have to move on soon, but the question was where we would go. There was a wide variety of Team Rocket bases all over Johto.

"The only option in Cianwood," James maintained as we sat out in the living quarters one night after everyone was in bed.

"But crossing the sea with the twins? And not to mention all of Johto," I pointed out. The Whirl Islands didn't exactly make crossing that portion of the sea easy.

"If we go to Violet and up to Ecruteak, we should be able to avoid a lot of trouble," James maintained as he poured over the map.

"I suppose," I allowed, "but then we have to figure out where to go after. I don't know if we can go back to Silver Shoal."

His face fell at the thought. For the last two days, he had been worried about his grandparents, but there was no way to contact them. It was too risky at this point. I reached over to hold his hand.

"It'll be okay, James," I assured him. James chuckled at this.

"You're the one reassuring me?" he asked.

"Yeah, I know," I replied with a grin. He brought our joined hands to his mouth and kissed the top of my hand.

"Things were going so good," he stated wistfully, "Everything was stable and simple. If it weren't for Team Rocket, we probably could've happily lived out the rest of our days in Silver Shoal. It was our home. Now, they're always going to be looking for us there. We can't go back."

"Maybe not right away," I said, "but there's always a chance in a few years."

He looked over at me and asked, "You think we're still going to be on the move a few years from now?"

I shrugged, "It's possible."

"We'll have to settle before then," James refuted. "If we ever have another baby, we'll need to have something stable."

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head, "Uh, a what?" I demanded, "Another…James, are you kidding?"

"What's wrong with that?" he asked, "I mean…would it really be so bad? Another little itty-bitty baby you can cradle in your arms that doesn't talk back or-"

"James…are you totally forgetting…I haven't slept in almost four years! It's a miracle in itself that it's nine thirty and all three of them are in bed!" I exclaimed.

"I know, Jess, but…I dunno…the kids are getting bigger and…"

"Honey…" I was speechless as I looked at him, staring down at the floor, admitting that he wanted another kid, "I know it's upsetting that the kids are growing, but it's not the best time to be wanting another baby…"

"Look, Jess, I'm not saying that we have to have another kid right now, but maybe someday we could?" he asked, shooting me a nervous grin. It was the grin he used to get his way. I don't know why I was such a sucker for that grin, but I felt myself caving.

"One day…I suppose," I sighed. A huge, ear-to-ear smile broke out on his face.

"Okay!" he exclaimed brightly, his eyes alight. Well, that just delayed the inevitable repeat of this conversation in the years to come. It's not that I didn't want more kids, but for now, the twins were more than enough. Besides, it would be unfair to knowingly bring an innocent baby into our lives when we were being chased by Team Rocket.

He leaned over to kiss me and I couldn't help but grin. It had been a while since we had had a moment to ourselves and I was enjoying it.

Then in my periphery, I noticed a movement. Light flooded the living room. We jumped apart and looked around wildly. Then the lights went out completely.

"Jess!" I heard his panicked voice. I knew what he wanted, where his mind immediately leapt to. I moved through the unfamiliar living room towards the room where my children slept. My leg hit an endtable and I was falling forwards.

I didn't hit the floor. Someone caught me. A light turned on, dimly illuminating the room. I looked up into the familiar face of my saviour.

"YOU!" I gasped, leaping away from the green-haired partner of my worst enemy.

"I'm afraid we interrupted a moment," he said, watching me as I stumbled backwards into James. I took in the rest of the room. We were surrounded. Cassidy, Domino, Butch, and about four other grunts were in the living space and we were in the center of their circle.

"Jessie and James…long time no see," Domino sneered. She looked pretty much the same as she had the last time I saw her. Childlike, even though I knew that she was only a few years younger than me. I shuddered.

"What do you want with us?" I snarled.

"We don't want you," Cassidy said quietly, "The Boss does."

She had changed, though. She was thinner and looked tired. Butch was more or less the same, though he now had a stupid looking goatee and mustache.

"And what the Boss wants, the Boss gets," Domino laughed, "Butch, get James. Cassidy, why don't you tie up Jessie?" Domino ordered. They started forwards.

"Jess?" James's voice was a question. I cast a fearful glance at him and then at the door to the children's room. Meowth was there, staring through the cracked door with wide eyes at the scene unfolding.

"Get off me!" James cried, fighting against Butch. I felt Cassidy's hands on my arms. My first instinct was to wrench away. She persisted and I opened my mouth to cry out when I saw Meowth start forwards. I couldn't let him get caught too. He was the kids' last chance.

"James! James, stop!" I gasped. He paused and looked over at me in confusion, allowing Butch to slam him to the ground. I felt Cassidy bind my hands. I didn't fight. She pushed me to the ground beside James.

"Finally come to your senses?" Domino cackled, "Finally wised up?" she asked, moving forwards with purpose in her cold, grey eyes. I heard the smack before I felt it. I heard James' muffled curses and cries. I winced, looking over at the hallway, my head resting on the hotel carpet. Meowth was staring at us, confusion etched on his furry face.

'Hide! Take care of them,' I mouthed to him before Cassidy and Butch hauled us to our feet. They marched us out, away from our children. To my relief, they just kept walking. Our children were safe.

0

Jessie looked down at her hands, a tear sliding down her face as she recounted that night not so long ago.

"I'm sorry," Jack said, bowing his head. She swallowed hard.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have been so quick to tuck the children into bed. I would've stayed with them longer. I would've given in to Rose's pleas for one more story. I would've let Henry slurp another glass of chocolate milk with James and Teddy. I would've spent a few more minutes watching Ted laugh as he beat James in his racing handheld game. I would've told Meowth…told him that he was the best partner in crime that I could have asked for. And…and I would held onto James and never let him go," she said, her voice cracking. Jack reached for her.

"I know, Jessie," he whispered as he hugged her to him, "I know."

"I...I tried…"

"You did what you had to for your kids. If Giovanni had known about them…"

"I know," Jessie said, wiping her eyes, "I know, but that doesn't make it any easier."

0

Hours had past as we were driven back to Viridian City. We were bound and gagged. The only comfort I had was that I was able to see James in front of me. His green eyes expressed all of the things he couldn't say to me and I hoped that mine were doing the same. I hoped that he knew how much I loved him.

Once we got to Viridian, we were marched by Domino to the Boss's chambers. Butch and Cassidy must have left to gloat over their victory. For the first time in over five years, I was standing before the man that terrified me the most.

He looked as menacing as ever in a deep black suit. His brown hair was greying at the sides, but it was still slicked back. His cold grey eyes were trained on us and he smirked in triumph. He stroked that persian that Meowth hated so much.

"Domino, take Mr. Morgan to the dungeons," Giovanni requested. Panic seized me. The last thing I wanted was for James to leave my side. He struggled, but Domino and her damn electrified tulips forced him out.

As for me, I was frozen in place by fear. I had never, ever wanted to return here.

Giovanni got to his feet and the persian was forced off of his lap. He walked around the desk and stopped in front of me.

"Jessica Musashi Lillis," he said my full name, "What to do with you?"

I glared at the floor, refusing to look him in the eye. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

"You've been quite evasive," he was saying, "A bit of a problem...but then, you always were."

I focused on his shoes. Nothing more.

"I have plans for that little boyfriend of yours," Giovanni continued as he circled around me, "but you...well, what am I going to do with you?"

I jumped as he placed his hands on my shoulders from behind me. He chuckled in my ear and I could not suppress a shudder as I felt his breath on my ear.

"Pity your arrival coincides with a delivery that is being made today," he said, "but it is quite opportune. It was almost like it was fated to be…"

I clenched my eyes shut as he moved a strand of my hair aside, the one that hid the scar on my face from when Butch, Cassidy, and Domino chased me and James off of the cliff.

"Yes, the Andes will make a wonderful prison for you...just as it has for a mutual acquaintance of ours. Do let him know that I can keep my word," Giovanni requested, "I promised that I would let the world decide what to do with you and this is what the world decided."

It confused me, but I didn't have too much time to dwell on it. I felt pain in the back of my head and then there was nothing but darkness.

0

"Like you, I woke up on the way here," Jessie said hollowly, "James was apparently taken to Jessiebelle and my kids...well...I just hope that Meowth took them someplace safe."

"I'm sure he did," Jack assured her, "He seems like a good and loyal friend to you both."

"The best," Jessie agreed.

TBC

Speaking of Meowth...