"8:00AM

"...Misty please eat your breakfast." Giovanni says, absentminded after he had seated himself near his daughter's bedside. He bothered himself by skimming the headlines of the morning newspaper and for a few brief moments he was hoping that, at least, would effectively help close the line of conversation.

Misty looks away upset. "...It's about what Ash said." she murmurs. She breathed deeply letting the warm air circulating from the nearby open window expand her lungs. She inhaled deep steady lungfuls of air hoping it would stop her heart from hammering from inside of her chest.

"I know you hate this situation as much as I do, but there's no sense in starving yourself. Eat your food." Giovanni says, evading her question. He never bothered to move his eyes from the paper as he spoke.

Another long drawn out pause, and brief flick of hesitation.

"Was it true? Did you really hurt the leader who owns the Pewter City Gym on purpose?" Misty says, before her eyes move back to her breakfast. The plate of food that was still sitting on the overbed table, steam was still rising from it. It hadn't been sitting there for too long if it was still hot.

"This conversation is rather redundant, isn't it?" Giovanni says, folding the newspaper neatly over before setting it on the nightstand.

"Why is it always so hard to ask a simple question?"

"Let's not discuss this-" Giovanni says, before slumping back into his chair.

"Why?"

Giovanni was attempting to block out Misty's escalating anger.

He hesitates briefly like he's unsure what to do next. A dull, throbbing headache extinguished a bit of his own anger before he nearly lost his gentility. A throbbing headache that only seems to worsen by the bright harsh light that reflected off the sterile white hospital room walls.

Misty's own frustrations gave way to desperation. "What made Brock so different? Did you feel sorry for him?" she says, feeling pretty confident it's the truth. "It's not like you…it's not like you at all to let someone go like that."

"Fine…I'll tell you," Giovanni says, though a yawn. "Most of my virtue is still intact." he sits up and leans forward in his chair addressing her. His lips curled into an arrogant self-satisfied smile.

A short pause of silence had passed between them before another single harsh word crossed the room to him. Which had compelled Misty to answer him, breaking the quiet of the room "...liar."

"You think your father's a liar?" Giovanni says, sadly, he almost sounds disapproving. he isn't shocked. He figured as much already.

Misty is seemingly at a loss of words, then suddenly. "You made it your business. That's the entire point of Team Rocket…"

"But don't actions always speak louder than words?" Giovanni says, oddly defensive. He grabs Misty by her jaw, tenderly forcing her to tilt her head upwards. Making sure neither of them were able to break eye contact with one another.

"Just don't start making a habit out of it."

Giovanni could hear the dry sarcasm intoned in Misty's voice. He wonders if there was any point in keeping secrets any longer before he speaks up again.

"I remember what being a trainer was like when I was Brock's age."

"...It's hard to believe you of all people could say something like that after everything you've done." Misty says, he sounds a lot less shaken as she says it. Which was her intention.

-.-

1:00PM

"Wha-what are you doing here?" Ash yelled, stumbling backwards.

"Well, considering I've been barely able to get five hours of sleep and after freshening up a bit at home, what do you expect?" Giovanni says, as he glared back at Ash. He soon gave the ten year old boy a confident smile after he noticed Looker's shocked expression.

"Is everything okay?" Ash would hear Looker say. Ash would look behind himself to notice both Brock and Looker exchanging concerned expressions with one another.

Ash quickly regrets his sudden outburst.

"Nothing, sir," Ash answers, half truthfully. "It was nothing. I was just surprised, you know? He's the leader of Viridian gym after all. Why wouldn't I be surprised?"

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Looker asks him again.

"I'm okay."

"You don't sound like you are."

"I'm not even a fan of hospitals myself," Ash says, in a frustrated tone of voice. "Sometimes I really can't stand being here when my parents force me to attend appointments."

"What's wrong?" Looker persisted, he was carefully gauging the boy's reactions to his words.

"It's nothing, really." Ash says, suddenly feeling uneasy. He knew an adult of Looker's caliber would never question him without some reason behind it.

"It's probably just nerves," Giovanni says, as politely as he could manage. "Since my daughter was recuperating from a bicycle accident he drops by a few times a day to check up on us," he pauses, his grin was nothing short but predatory. "I'd say all that worrying must be taking its toll on him." ending his sentence with a soft dramatic sigh.

Giovanni was exercising the extent of his own honesty excusing Ash for his behavior. It was a really good excuse to use around a detective like Looker. Giovanni could practically feel the gratitude radiating from Ash.

"Yeah, lots of things, sir," Ash says, his voice was quiet and anxious all at once. He would tell him without ever meeting Looker's worried gaze. His eyes drifted to the floor where he studied his shoes for a few minutes. "Lots of things have been happening in my life and I really don't feel like talking about it right now." he suddenly looks back up at the only pair of adults who were standing inside Brock's hospital room. His eyes drifted from Giovanni and then back to Looker again, a touch desperately.

Giovanni noticed Ash reminded him of a frightened child.

"My friend," Looker says, in a more questioning tone. And he says a little more quietly out of earshot. "If you need an adult or someone that you need to talk to, I'm here to listen."

That was Ash's problem; he knew he couldn't.

Not if it meant betraying Giovanni's trust, he couldn't confront the detective without effectively orphaning Misty.

Giovanni would pull out a chair for Ash to sit down upon when he saw the child stagger towards him. All he wanted to do was step outside for a bit of fresh air. A cold bottle of water, something to settle his stomach. He suddenly felt out of breath and dizzy. Coupled with lungfuls of unsteady breathing as he continues to swallow lungfuls of air. Lungful after lungful as he's fighting to drive more air into his own oxygen starved lungs would allow.

Ash wasn't able to overhear what Giovanni and Looker were saying to one another over his heavy laborious breaths.

"He's hyperventilating…" Looker told Giovanni. "...someone get a nurse in here." he wasted no time running out of the open door to search for one.

"As you told me before, it's just nerves…" Giovanni says, feigning his own concern as he slowly approaches a fear strickened Ash.

"...Right?"

-.-

March 31 - West of Kanto - Viridian City - Team Rock HQ

4:30PM

Giovanni's office

"I'd ask you if everything was okay but - " Giovanni says, pressing a hand against Ash's forehead. A soft pained whimper escaped the boy's parted lips while he assessed his body temperature.

He felt warm to the touch. Much too warm for comfort.

"...But what?" Ash says, quietly, giving him a questioning glance after Giovanni removed his hand from his forehead.

"...I already know the answer." Giovanni says to himself clearly out of earshot. "Ash, what have you been doing for the past two days since you were gone?" he added out loud. His words echo off the walls of his office.

"Home." Ash says, begrudgingly giving him a one-worded response.

Hearing the exhaustive tone of Ash's voice Giovanni immediately became concerned. His anger soon evaporated as he stared down the child who seated himself near his desk.

"Home?" Giovanni repeats, as he rubs his sore and tired eyes.

"Yeah, where else did Looker think of dropping me off after that panic attack?" Ash says, visibly confused.

"I remember but there is something I would like to know..." Giovanni says, and this thought alone forces him to pause. It's an angry contemplative pause and this alone frightens Ash.

There's another beat of silence, relative silence, anyway, save for the walls that occasionally shuddered during Team Rocket's practice drills taking place in a nearby gymnasium.

The rumbles of thunder sent shock waves that rippled throughout the entire facility.

Ash doesn't bother to wait for Giovanni to finish before answering a question with one of his own. "It's about the panic attack isn't it?" he says, clearly worried. He's unsure what else to say. Which probably sounds a little suspicious, but Giovanni notices he's a bit bothered.

"You're pretty perceptive aren't you?" Giovanni says quietly, his voice is tight with barely restrained anger that shakes with each syllable. "That's exactly what I'd like to know who or what caused it to happen."

The question alone assaulted Ash's mind. Giovanni managed to short out his ability to speak. He could feel his heart rate increase. His heart was pounding inside of his chest. A very tense silence stretched endlessly for several long minutes before he could finally volunteer an answer.

He knew Giovanni was expecting a direct answer this time, but he was unsure as to how Giovanni would react if he gave it to him.

So he decided to answer him indirectly instead.

"Why did you visit Brock? I thought you said you weren't going to visit him."

It's not very effective…

"Are you honestly willing to abandon my daughter so easily?" Giovanni says, simplifying an obvious answer.

"I thought about it a few times…" Ash spoke up, looking more sad than angry.

Giovanni would supply the child with a set of his own straight forward questions.

He gave up professional decorum long ago.

"What about all those times you spent near her?" Giovani yells, and then says a little more quietly. "You do know she has grown quite fond of you? Would you rather side with Looker of all people than align yourself with my daughter...with me?"

He would remain quiet for a few more seconds mulling over his words trying to grope for a proper response. It was only when he spoke up again. It was plainly obvious he was upset. "I know that, sir," Ash exclaimed. "I know it's the guilt twisting my reasoning. I know it's wrong to associate myself with Team Rocket and your daughter who's a part of all this. I really wouldn't be wasting your time or any more energy into developing our friendship if I ever planned to speak to Looker."

He's jolted by this unexpected answer. "How's this time any different than offering to keep Misty company?" Giovanni says, angrily.

No longer could he contain all the things he wanted answered and now he was at a point where he was not asking he was demanding.

"You hurt Brock. You hurt my friend."

"Someones…someone is always bound to get hurt…" Giovanni says, releasing a short depressive sigh.

"...A lot like Misty too, huh?" Ash answered quite frankly. His tone of voice leaves a little to be desired in the way of sympathy. "remember Misty got hurt too. It's none of my business, but that accident, the day she rode off with my bike I'm pretty sure it must have had something to do with you somehow."

"Don't bring my daughter into this." Giovanni rasps.

"How long has it been? How long has Misty been lonely? Has it always been this way?"

-.-

"What part of staying out of the Cerulean cave do you not understand?" Giovanni angrily asked.

"Buh–But DA-DADDY! Mom's in there I can FEEL it!" Misty says, looking up at her father with wide and pleading eyes. "Mom's inside that cave!"

"Your mother died years ago, remember? Whatever's inside of that cave is not your mother! Why can't you understand I don't want you to get hurt!" Giovanni says, his anger revealing his desperation.

"Just let me go!" Misty screams. "Just let me see for myself and then I'll -" only her father would abruptly cut her sentence short.

"That's just it, Misty! All that unmanaged grief finally gotten to that head of yours! You're obsessed!" Giovanni shouted.

"No! You don't understand!" Misty says, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. "I know- I just know it's her!" before she let out a harsh sob, her tears were hot, salty, and blinding but she ignored it. "Just let me see it for myself and I promise I'll never ask to go back again!"

Now close to panicking he says, his voice is quiet and urgent all at once as he watches his daughter's shoulders shaking from the force of her own sobs. "I know a lot more than you think I do. I understand what goes on around Kanto. I know about that cave," he says, raising his voice much louder for emphasis. "Nothing is inside of that cave, Misty! It's all inside of your head!" His voice raised at the very last word. Forcing every single bit of emotion into it. This anger Giovani had bottled up had been forced into this singular syllable that resonated in the air. A word that highlighted much of his own guilt and remorse.

-.-

4:55PM

"I heard lots of things about that cave myself, something about a monster living in it. But it's not like we ever got very far." Ash says, before he made a move towards the candy dish that sat on Giovanni's desk.

"You like sweets?" Giovanni says, quickly departing from the current subject as he observed the ten year old's hand reach out to grab a piece of candy.

"Who doesn't?" Ash says, trying to fight down the nervous flutter of fear in his stomach as he stared back at Giovanni's stern gaze. Giovanni's gaze was hard and piercing. A gaze which was unbearable for him to endure but he wouldn't allow himself to break eye contact.

"Most usually I keep the sweets hidden around this place." Giovanni admitted, after a torturously long moment.

"So you're one of those kinds of parents." Ash says, turning the piece of candy over in the palm of his hand.

This candy isn't native to Kanto…

"Trying to keep sweets out of my daughter's hands is a tough job," Giovanni says, taking a seat behind his desk, clearly exhausted. Ash notices the tiniest flicker of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. No doubt he was caught up in some old memory he's unwilling to share. "If she behaves herself I usually stash away a few of them in my coat pocket as a treat."

"It couldn't be chocolate could it?"

"It melts too quickly. It's more like a few pieces of hard candy."

"Where does it all come from?" Ash asks in surprise.

"Just something I bring home from Italy whenever I'm out of town." Giovanni answered.

…No wonder why it's so unique.

"Are these kinds of candy her favorite?" Ash says, studying the piece of candy.

"Yes, ever since she was younger." Giovanni says, eventually. He reclines himself in his chair noticing the hopeful tone of the child's voice.

Ash can clearly tell he's pleased with himself.

"But if you never let Misty have any sweets except for special occasions then what's the deal with the candy dish?" Ash wondered, slightly troubled.

"It's not like Misty's exactly able to barge her way into my office at this very moment." Giovanni tells him, fortunately he doesn't sound upset.

"Figures." Ash says, flashing Giovanni a nervous grin. As he thought about Misty. A sudden thought came to his mind. "Is it because you miss her…or is it just something that always sat on your desk?"

"It's more of a social lure."

"That explains why it's still full," Ash says, allowing him to think logically. "I mean nobody ever gets called into the principal's office at school unless it was something bad."

"How would I ever get my daughter to eat dinner if she always kept spoiling her appetite?" Giovanni asks, in mock surprise.

"But somehow I managed to snag a piece myself," Ash says with some excitement, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "I'm the one who got away with taking one piece from your candy dish," the very notion. Apparently Giovanni felt it was an offensive one. Which forces Ash to laugh a bit harder and a few minutes longer. "Maybe I should tell Misty about all this tomorrow or even better maybe I could give it back to her one of these days. My treat."

Ash bothered to ignore Giovanni's exasperated glare before doubling over with laughter in his own chair.