Dawn cleaned the table after breakfast concluded as her daughter run back up to her bathroom to prepare for her morning bath. The blunette's mind was still preoccupied with Volkner's visit later in the day, which inadvertently made her starting thinking of Paul.

"Oh Arceus," she thought to herself, "It's been six years, he doesn't matter anymore".

She disregarded her thoughts of her ex-lover and walked back to tend to her daughter.

Once she was finished with her bath, Aurora was left to her own devices, meaning she was allowed to play with her dolls and watch her morning cartoons, occasionally asking Dawn questions and pointing out observations she's made about the characters she was watching.

Dawn smiled fondly at her daughter until she was interrupted by the doorbell. Dawn glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 9. 'Time sure does fly,' she thought to herself as she stood up from the couch.

Dawn opened the door for Volkner, giving him an awkward hello, only to be saved by Aurora coming up and introducing herself to the stranger.

"Hello sir," she said, trying to sound as mature as possible, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Aurora." She finished by curtsying.

"Why hello, Aurora," Volkner smiled back at her, kneeling down until he was her height. "My name is Volkner, and the pleasure is all mine, sweetheart."

"Honey, go to your room and play, Mommy needs to talk to her friend." Dawn said to her daughter.

"Okay mommy, nice meeting you Volt-, Volk-" she attempted his name several times. "Nice meeting your mommy's friend!" she settled on once she realised she wouldn't be able to pronounce his name.

Volkner beamed at the young girl as she skipped away to her bedroom.

"She's absolutely adorable, Dawn. I can't believe you've been hiding her from all of us for all these years"

"Yeah, well," Dawn struggled to get out, "It's not like it was easy."

Volkner nodded, understanding the past six years have been difficult for her. "So, what's the story? What made you leave?"

Dawn sighed. She knew he was going to keep pestering her about this. "Volkner, I'll tell you everything, just promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"You cannot tell anyone, not even my mother, okay? I'll talk to her when I'm ready."

The blonde haired man was hesitant, but eventually nodded his head, showing he agreed.

"Alright, well I guess the story started six years ago. You remember how I was dating Paul?" she asked and glanced at him. When he nodded, she continued. "Well, we had a good relationship. We, of course like any stupid young couple in love, had sex. I ended up getting pregnant. Once, I found out, I was excited. I mean, of course I was scared. I was 19, I wasn't married, and I didn't know how to raise a kid, but if it was with Paul, I thought I could do anything.

"I went to his house. Instead of calling or texting him ahead of time, I just went to his house and entered with the spare key I had, thinking that I would surprise him with the news that I was pregnant. I wanted Paul to be the very first person to know, considering it was his child, so I went to tell him before I even thought of telling my mom.

"Well, once I got to his house, I thought it was strange. Normally, he stays on the first floor of his house unless he was training or napping, but I knew he was home because his car was in the driveway. I went upstairs, and I yelled that there was news I wanted to share with him. I heard a thump and thought that maybe I had scared him out of his sleep and he fell out of bed.

"I walked in," I took in a deep breath, recounting the events that happened, "and there he was. On the floor, with some random girl sitting on his lap".

Dawn stayed quiet as she focused on her breathing, willing herself not to cry.

"Oh Dawn," Volkner started, but he was interrupted by Dawn, continuing her explanation.

"He looked so guilty, and of course I knew what was going on. He was cheating on me. Instead of telling him I was pregnant, I told him that I was moving and I wanted to break up because I didn't want a long distance relationship."

Volkner hugged the blunette tightly as he soothed her to stop crying, which shocked her as she didn't even realise she started to cry. "Dawn, I'm so sorry. I honestly didn't know. I didn't expect that from Paul."

Dawn regrouped herself and sat up on her own again. "I didn't think that would've happened. Paul was so distraught when you disappeared."

"Oh yeah, sure," she rolled her eyes at the older man, obviously not believing him, "He cared so much that he hasn't even bothered trying to contact me the past six years. But it doesn't matter. I'm fine without him and Aurora is probably better off never knowing him."

Volkner gave Dawn a look of sadness. He knew she needed to get back into contact with her friends and family, and he knew it was his job to make it happen.