It has been a couple of days since the party but Jon still felt somewhat apprehensive of what those at the party witnessed.
"Celia, I really feel like something is off here. I do not believe anyone there was NOT okay with what they saw but that does not mean that they WERE okay with it or, rather, they found it suspicious," said Jon. "Even if they found what you did for our daughter sweet and endearing, they may still find her calling you mom enough to begin questioning things."
Celia wasn't so sure, she thought that it was not that big of a deal. If the parents were that concerned with what they saw, they surely would have brought it up, right? "Jon, I do not think it is that serious, or at least I hope not." She stopped for a brief moment to remember everything that happened that day and she could not remember if they acted totally out of the norm besides the initial surprise and concern. "Furthermore, it is not like they can object to me being protective of her, family or not, I would have been concerned for her health if she was not my daughter. Maybe I did show a bit more affection than what most would think was normal between a child and a pokemon who is a close family member or friend but still," she stated. "Plus, my own kind are known to be really protective of those they care about because of empathic personalities.
Jon then asked, "you didn't check their minds?"
She could have very well checked their minds but she believes, like most other gardevoirs, that unwelcome mental intrusions without consent is a violation and abuse of her abilities so she didn't.
"No, you know I wouldn't do that Jon. Unless I found the situation to be hostile or of an immediate danger to Ellie, I would not probe into people's minds; communication is always preferred over mental interrogation or else it would be abused all the time. Gardevoir who have done so are usually not so well liked and could even be shunned," she finished.
"I know…but I cannot help but be anxious. All it takes is one slip up and we could be scrutinized or downright demonized if someone who was close-minded wanted to cause trouble.
*Ellie arrives Home*Coming home from school, Ellie was walking through the door when overheard a bit of the conversation that her parents were having. Something about what her momma did for me the other day and when I called her my mommy? She tried to get closer to hear since their voices got a bit quieter. Figuring she could not hear anything else and was wanting to see her parents anyways, she ran into the kitchen, giving them both a hug. After telling them how her day at school went and how her friends were all excited to go to the next party at one of their houses, she asked them what they were talking about.
"So momma and daddy, what are y'all talking about?" She knew that they were adults and were talking somewhat in private but she couldn't help but be curious.
Celia responded, "well baby, we were just talking about the other day when I helped you after you fell and called for me. Your father and I were just talking about how those people at the party who didn't know were surprised because they don't know I am your real mother."
"Yeah, and try to remember to not say it out loud so often or call her momma Celia if you do, they still do not know nor would they understand why she is your mommy. You aren't in trouble but I just want you to be careful so that you won't get bothered by others," Jon interjected.
Ellie had taken a deep breath, unaware that she was tense due to her curiosity with the conversation earlier, and relaxed. She wanted to ask more but didn't know what she should be asking since she didn't understand everything going on or being said but understood that her mommy was not the average mommy and that maybe people would be mad if they knew.
Finally, she felt calm enough to tell them of her conversation with her teacher from the previous week. "Daddy, Miss Connely asked why I had called momma 'momma.' I don't know if she knows about momma but I remembered what you said and lied to her instead." Taking a second to breathe, she continued, "I told her that momma has always been around me since I was born and that she was nice to me, takes care of me, cooks for me and even cleaned for me, so I call her momma celia or momma for short ." While impressed with her excuse, it does make even Celia a little wary that the teacher would possibly begin to question things.
"Momma, she asked if I loved you like a momma and I told her that I did since you love me and daddy and take care of us. She said it sounded like you love us."
Celia, despite the conversation, couldn't help it as her heart fluttered and she teared up at the innocence of her baby. She would get back to the conversation but she needed to hold back the tears of joy so as to not feel embarrassed at being complimented in such a way by her very young child.
Ellie continued, "Miss Connely is really nice. She helped me during recess on Friday when I was accidentally pushed to the ground. I didn't like when she tickled my ear when checking my head for scratches though."
The smallest detail.Maybe the paranoia was getting to Jon but something about that last statement rubbed him the wrong way, perhaps he was focusing too much on the idea of his family being under scrutiny or something else. But no matter what, it felt like it was really important and he was unsure of why.
*While shopping, Jessica runs into Emily*With work done for the rest of the day, Jessica was able to go shopping for stuff that she had needed for the last week. During her grocery shopping though, she ran into one of the parents, Emily, from the party.
Smiling at the slightly older lady and glad to relax to make conversation, Jessica greeted Emily. "Hey there Mrs. Badosa, glad to see you today, how are you?
"I am doing well. And you, Miss Connely, or rather I should say Jessica." Chuckling at her funny comment, she continues, "we all live here and know each other, and plus you are my 'Bee's' teacher so no need for formalities I suppose."
"You're right, Emily, no need for that when we are friends here," Jessica continued with a smile, "and I am doing well myself."
After exchanging pleasantries, Emily asked, "how is work and the kids at school?" Grateful that her and her neighbors' children have a nice teacher, she mentions that her job doesn't provide her the luxury of teaching sweet children, instead having to work with grumpy, older people wanting to file their taxes.
Jessica laughed, "Great! Great I guess though I have to say that all the children at once can be a handful at time." She then continued once she finished laughing, complimenting Emily herself. "Well thanks for taking the attention of the grumpy adults away from me!"
"I'm just glad that Ellie and my other students got to relax and play at Ellie's birthday party over the weekend." Emily agreed with her and suggested that they should make it a tradition for the whole class to celebrate each other's birthdays before stopping to suggest that they should bubble wrap the kids to stop them from getting hurt, in good humor of course.
Emily & Jessica talk about Celia & Ellie."Well at least we know that if Jon's kid, Ellie, gets hurt, she will have nice little Celia to take care of her. Though I will say that I was caught off guard and a little shocked at Ellie calling Celia her mommy," spoke Emily.
Jessica listened and responded, "yeah, I wasn't expecting to hear Ellie yell for Celia as her mommy, and it was clearly Celia after seeing her calming Ellie down." She didn't tell Emily of her own suspicions and thoughts though since she still wasn't sure she could believe it herself. "However, I already knew that Ellie already called her, as she says, 'momma Celia or momma for short', as she told me before while at school. I guess it's close but she still said mommy instead of 'momma gardevoir'."
Emily raised her eyebrow at this bit of information but stayed silent in favor of hearing Jessica talk more. However, instead of continuing to give more additional information like she hoped, Jessica instead reiterated what Emily saw and agreed that it was unusual but nothing of major concern.
"I mean had the situations been different, it would have been very concerning. But because I know that Ellie calls Celia 'Momma Celia', or momma for short because she is the maternal figure she grew up with, I think it is okay and even a tiny bit cute," finished Jessica. She downplayed her own suspicion or completely left it out in favor of not creating more suspicion or drama till she could figure out more details or the truth itself.
Emily then spoke, "well I guess when you put it that way, I can't help but agree. In a way, it is cute that the kid calls her 'momma Celia' to show how important and special she is to her. Glad we could talk about this because it was really eating me up on the inside. Gossip girl, am I right?" Both chuckled and Jessica nodded her head in agreement.
*Let's talk later, we will invite more parents*Before leaving the conversation, Jessica and Emily both agreed that they wish they had more time to talk about the Haynes family concern. Since other parents were there at the party as well and that their children attend the same school, they believed it would be a good idea to invite more parents to get their opinions. They also wanted to see how everyone felt, to try to understand what was going on, and then eventually ask Jon some questions to get to the bottom of things. They decided to wait till the next day.
* Tuesday; while on break, Jon runs into Henry*After finishing up some paper work on the transfer of recently rehabilitated bulbasaurs (from a local pokemon rehabilitation clinic) back to the Kanto region (having been brought to the Hoenn region by a naive trainer who thought they would thrive here), Jon left his office for lunch. On his way out the main entrance, he ran into one of the parents, Henry, from the birthday party.
Considering Henry delivered supplies for the conservatory once a week, Jon wasn't surprised to have run into him on his way out. But deciding to not worry about the time it would take for lunch since the bulk of his work had been done for the day, Jon decided to stay and talk to Henry.
For several minutes, they both talked about the supplies that were brought in, the nice weather they were having, the uniqueness of bulbasaurs (neither one had seen them in person till today since they were soon to be moved), and other small random topics before talking about how fun the birthday party was.
"Yeah, you know Jon, I think today is the first time I have actually seen a bulbasaur. When I was younger, I did travel to some different regions here and there but when I traveled to Kanto, I only spent enough time there to challenge a few gym leaders. During one of my travels in Kanto, I ended up seeing a Venusaur but never its earlier evolution stages.
Intrigued at the coincidence, Jon spoke, "That is actually funny, in a way, because I ended up facing a similar situation when I went through Kanto years ago." Looking back over at the conservatory, pointing in the general direction of where the Bulbasaurs were. "The only one I got to see was Ivysaur, and that was only because I volunteered for a few months at a pokemon sanctuary that worked to give disabled pokemon time to adjust or rehabilitate before being released back into the wild."
"Plus, I'm sure we will have these poor little guys sent back to their native region soon. They won't have to be here if we do end up getting bad storms; it certainly wouldn't make the transport easy if they ended up being rattled by hurricane-like winds before leaving."
Thinking a little bit, Henry responded. "Good, I don't really know all about that stuff and I will take your word on it as an expert, I just find it a little hard to think they would be rattled storms since we ain't the only place in the world that gets bad weather."
"I don't blame you for thinking that but it's more about just wanting them to stay as relaxed and content on their delivery. Not really necessary but definitely helpful when a distressed pokemon can easily cap size a small boat or overturn a car," Jon said.
"Regardless, I am just a little excited that I at least got a chance to see an actual bulbasaur in person." Finding that the conversation was ready to move on, Henry continued, "But anyways, how is the family? Did your little girl enjoy her birthday party the other day?"
Jon perked up a little, "oh absolutely, she really enjoyed the presents she got and was even happy to share them during her birthday party. I know she couldn't pull back her excitement that day."
The birthday party incident is mentioned."Yeah, I figured your kid enjoyed it even after getting so worked up. I know she only got, at worst, a minor scrap but the poor kid was just trying to have the time of her life with her friends," said Henry.
Jon, taken aback about the mentioning of the incident but appreciative of his well wishes, responded that he was just grateful that Celia was able to calm Ellie down. "Ehh, it's alright Henry, Celia was there to pick her up and calm her down while treating her so I believe she did have the time of her life and, if Ellie didn't, she hasn't told me yet.
This comment furthers the topic, and Henry uses that to ask Jon how he felt about Ellie calling his gardevoir, mommy. "So Jon, I wanted to ask the other day, are you fine with her calling Celia her 'momma'? At the time, I didn't ask because I didn't want to take time away from your kid's party.
Henry begins to ask the questions."What is there to talk about? It doesn't bother me that Ellie called her 'momma celia' or 'momma' for short because, in a way, she is." Jon, while being respectful to the fact his 'wife' was actually Ellie's mother, was still able to lie. "I better get a good meal and some kisses for that performance" thought Jon.
Continuing, "Ellie didn't get to meet or grow up with her birth mother and I know that something like that could have really messed her up. I was fortunate, however, because Celia was able to give her that motherly attention and love that she couldn't get from her birth mom. Celia really does love Ellie and cares for her like own family. Hell, she has literally been around even before Ellie's birth."
Henry, hearing the answer given by Jon, decided to go about it in a different way. "Okay, fine, it is nice and all and I have to agree for the most part but do you and Ellie ever talk about her birth mom? Has she ever asked about her? How does she feel about not having her around since she is so little?" (Henry tried to word the questions so as to not be critical, too invasive, or coming off as rude but, even then, it wasn't perfect).
Jon, a little hesitant at first to answer, decides to be evasive. "Well, for the time being, I believe Ellie is too young to be talking about her mother not being around or being able to raise her kid. Doing so would only upset her and upsetting her is the last thing I want, when she is older we can discuss it."
"That should suffice for an answer, can't exactly tell you the truth but I believe that would work," thought Jon. "Furthermore, Celia, a gardevoir who has been by my side for more than half of my life and was there for everything, has always shown Ellie's love and care, not that different from that of a mother. I think Ellie feels happy and content with that."
The questions get a little too personal, a little too close to the truth."So… Jon, how do you feel about Celia?" asked Henry. He didn't know why he decided to ask that question but the need for answers pushed him to ask.
"What? Why would he ask me that question? I can't just give him the truth but I have to say something, even if I am unsure of what answers Henry wants."
"I do love Celia as a part of my family and for being a mother to Ellie," he stated bluntly. He didn't say he was with her romantically but he didn't deny his love for Celia either, he couldn't when she gave him his little Blueberry.
"If I were to be honest, having her around me for all these years, even before I had my family or met Ellie's mother, was a blessing for me. She did a lot for me, keeping me head on straight and not letting me get too stupid or caught up in my big dreams," he finished. That last bit made him chuckle since he was joking but being serious, she really did keep his ass in line at times!
Despite the severity of the topic, Henry couldn't help but laugh along with Jon, he knew how it felt to have his wife keep him from doing dumb things. "He sounds like he is telling the truth, but it sounds like he was awfully close to his pokemon for years. I don't blame him for being close since that is what trainers and companions do for their pokemon but it just sounded a little unusual the way he said it" Henry didn't want to go too far in that thought though because he was trying to talk to Jon and his implore was enough as it is, it would be adding insult to accuse him of being weird, or accuse him of pokephilia.
Henry's questioning starts going too far, Jon gets annoyed at the interrogation."Okay, I get it. I know it is a lot. I am just trying to understand more about your family since I know it had to have been tough these last few years," Henry truthfully revealed.
"But anyways…how does Celia feel about you? I heard that gardevoir are pretty empathetic pokemon, often being affectionate and caring of their trainers," Henry asked.
Jon tried to be nice here but he couldn't help but feel really annoyed. It was one thing to talk and then ask about the incident and my daughter's relationship with her but now he was just being nosy. "Maybe that is what he is trying to do, well not anymore," Jon thought.
"Henry, I am really tired here man. We can talk another time but I really don't feel the need to talk about this. If my gardevoir was trying to be 'affectionate,' don't you think it would be obvious since she would try to be all over me," Jon asserted. He feels like Henry, regardless of whether it is intentional or not, is prying too much into his life. It almost sounds like he wants to know whether Jon has done anything with Celia.
"Look, Celia loves Ellie and I like family and we both love her like she is family too, it isn't any different than the bond you see other people and their pokemon have." Jon didn't like wording it exactly like, it also irked him cause he sounded like a broken record after having repeated that multiple times in this conversation, albeit in slightly different ways.
Henry relents for now, and the parents want to meet to talk.Henry, feeling guilty for coming off as noisy and inconsiderate, apologized. "Yeah, look Jon, sorry if I offended you or something man, I was just trying to know more about you and your family since I don't know much. My kid is friends with your kid and it would be good if I could know more about your family so we can all be a little closer, right?" Jon nodded his head.
Henry then decided to ask Jon about getting their kids together at the park soon. "How about we try taking the kids to the park soon so that they can have some fun and we can grill out, sounds good?"
Jon seemed a little enthusiastic about the offer since he did love a good barbeque. "Yeah, I guess we could do that. It would be nice to get out of the house.'' Jon understood that Henry was just asking because he did not know much about him and his family, especially since their child, Oliver, is a friend of Jon's child and even played with Ellie outside of school sometimes. Jon, no longer angry, released his annoyance and bidded Henry a farewell so he could continue his lunch while Henry finished the delivery.
Henry, while grateful that he accepted his proposal, still felt like more was going on and decided that he should meet with some of the other parents and the teacher to discuss some of his concerns, unaware that Jessica and another parent, Emily, had already made plans to talk about that night.