Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. I wrote this a couple of months ago and got the idea for it without walking. It was really nice to go back and write some of my characters younger. It also really made me nostalgic for being Katie's age and quite similar to her too! Like the title suggests, Gary is in charge of some kids here. And quite a few! I hope you enjoy :3

Ages:

Gary: 28

Jayme: 26

Misty: 27

Ben, Katie Ketchum, Eddie and Melissa Oak: 7

Disclaimer: I own the story mentioned and the OCs!

The deep purple haired eldest Morgan daughter placed her hands upon her partner's face and pushed his cheeks lightly inwardly as she spoke to him. As words came out of her mouth, she had a mildly playful glint in her eye but at the same time, there was a bit of concern there! She asked again for another time, making sure before she left for good.

"You're going to be okay with them, aren't you?" Jayme asked the auburn haired Pokémon Researcher and because it was the third or fourth time of her asking such a thing in different words, although he would have normally allowed (and encouraged) her hands to remain on his face, he elevated his eyes upwards towards the ceiling before pushing her arms away from him.

Gary rolled his eyes and then after they darted between his partner in front of him and to the right where he saw the orange haired woman had purely amusement in her eyes and a smirk on her face, this prompted him to answer. And has he answered, he addressed both Jayme and Misty's scepticism and waved both of his hands in the air.

"It's just an evening with children! It's not evolving a Feebas into a Milotic." He retorted and from the kitchen counter in the Oak Family Home, I knew it was this analogy that caused Misty to stop smirking and her mouth to even out a touch, smiling a bit instead. Naturally, Jayme's own gaze softened too and although they had been lightly shoved away, her hands reached back out to her partner again. Gary continued as he felt fingers upon his shoulders. "Go. Just go. And have a good time."

His former gesture of having both hands in the air in exasperation faded away and just hand remained upwards. That one hand made a waving motion of reassurance. Before Gary added words along the lines of telling the two women not to do anything he couldn't do, they both looked at each other.

That silent, knowing and wife-like quality was in both Misty and Jayme's eyes. They were only teasing him. Mostly.

Looking after four children all of the same age could be a little bit of an undertaking, let alone when it was Ketchum and Oak offspring! I smiled. I would be there to help out. The girls knew this. And Gary did too.

After seeing the way his long-term partner nodded her head at last and squeezed his shoulders a little more before looking around the kitchen for her black, patent clutch bag – and after seeing Misty nonchalantly glancing at her watch before hovering next to me, her hand landing on the top of my head – he lightened up enough to make another comment.

His defensiveness switched to getting in the last word, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards as his arms hugged over his chest.

"C'mon. If James Morgan can do it most of the time then I comfortably can." he announced and at the time, I took these words to mean that he had that amount of little ones under his roof at one time most of the time. Although looking back now, I realized that he was hinting at and digging at something different.

Misty found it natural to furrow her brow and with her nails almost digging in to the top of my head, she opened her mouth to defend the lavender haired male. However, she was put off by the purposeful polite smile that graced Gary's lips then and she was prevented by Jayme saying some words of her own, her clutch bag then decorating her shoulder.

"We had better say goodbye to the kids then, hadn't we? I think we've learned from the last time that we headed off without a cuddle!" Jayme spoke in an easy-going way but her eyes winced a bit at the memory! A similar thing happened with Misty and Gary and after they were united in their gestures, they were united in their ability to let that previous little moment too.

Showing that cuddles between adults had to be had too before heading off for an evening, the auburn haired Pokémon Researcher and the deep purple haired eldest Morgan daughter embraced, their touch lingering on each other for a little while as well as their lips. In the meantime, Misty occupied herself with giving me a hug too, her touch then much gentler on the top of my head.

I smiled after Jayme and Gary pulled away from the embrace that the woman of the couple put her hands on her hips and moved to the door, calling to the children in the house to come and say goodbye. It was while she was doing this that Misty and Gary didn't exactly have a cuddle but they put a hand on their shoulder each. Their heads even bobbed to one and other in a nod.

Yes, it was all water under the bridge. And teasing aside, she very much trusted her children with him.

Those children of hers appeared soon enough and were followed by Eddie and Melissa who seemed rather reluctant to say goodbye to their own mother in their own home. I bit the inside of my cheeks to refrain from chuckling but then could only focus on the love in my heart when Ben and Katie moved to their own mother's side to give her a big hug.

It was true that the one that the raven haired boy of the twins offered only a brief one but it was a meaningful one too, nuzzling his face from left to right against Misty after she went down to the children's level to hold them both. A soft smile on her lips, she pressed a kiss to her son's head and ran a hand through his unruly locks before he broke away from her for good, eager to go back to the side of his best friend.

At the same moment that Eddie and Melissa were encouraged to at least give Jayme the tiniest of hugs, although Misty was enjoying the lingering embrace that she was getting from her daughter, she knew when it was time to lightly encourage her away. She didn't like to push Katie off her so she made sure to lift her chin up with her fingers to look at her, speaking to her softly and caringly.

Misty's hand brushed through her daughter's far neater locks as she reassured her.

"We'll be back to pick you up at 9, okay? You enjoy yourself." she chose her words and didn't say the words 'don't worry' or 'don't miss me too much'. Katie's lifted up chin tried to nod and her slightly wide eyes moved to where I was. I of course shot her my own reassuring glance and smile too but I tried not to make it too much. Misty's hands then went to her daughter's shoulders before she lifted herself up to her full height, her finger wandering and pointing to the clock on the Oak Family Kitchen. "You read that better than anyone I know. We'll be back at 9."

And after repeating these words to her daughter, Misty purposefully turned her attention to Ben all over again. Even though he needed this kind of reassurance far less than his twin sister, he too was told the time that she would return.

I couldn't help but find it fascinating and heart-warming at the far different reactions between the two siblings. While Katie's eyes continued to be saucers as she tried to nod her head bravely and scoot to Melissa's side after she had been done hugging her own mother, Ben didn't hesitate to grin at Misty, fist bumping the air with a gloved hand before turning to Eddie.

"You hear that? We have so much time to practice battling!" he told informed the other seven year old boy. Eddie promptly grinned upon hearing this and because they wanted to make the most of their hours together, the two boys grabbed each other by the arm and tugged each other off.

They didn't look back! They didn't care where their mothers went off to and this caused Jayme and Misty to share a bit of a fond look with each other. I shared a gaze with Gary. And then after both our eyes went back to the surroundings, we saw how both of the girl's gave their mothers another hug seeing as both of their brothers were gone.

This was of course relished and soft inhales could be heard as they wrapped their arms around their children. But they knew when too much was too much. They stood up again and it was up to Gary to make light-ness of it all and take action. It goes without saying that he seized this, his hands resting on his hips as he lingered near me.

"Well, off you two go then. Have fun. Not too much fun though." Gary began and after the two seven year old girl's eyes wandered widely up to him as they listened, his waggling of his fingers gesture switched to pointing at one of the woman in particular. Misty felt herself at the end of his finger. "Don't overdo it. I know what you're like when you find a jukebox on a night out!"

And after these words were said, Misty's eyes threatened to narrow. But then Jayme and Misty too decided to get on out of there! Whether it was intentional or not, it was a bit of a good subject for Gary to broach because it meant that Katie was too busy trying to figure out the meaning behind it rather than growing wobbly that her mother was out of sight.

Even so, that wobbliness did threaten to catch up with her a bit. Katie's wide eyes of wondering prepared to switch to a bit of nervousness but fortunately, definitely intentionally saving the occasion that time, Gary made a point of rubbing his hands together and smiling down at the two girls at the same instant that Jayme and Misty shut the door behind them.

"So what do the two of you have planned for tonight? Like Ben said, you can probably get loads done." his voice was airy enough but then he approached the two of their sides and Melissa soon enough felt her father's touch on her shoulder.

She knew what this meant. She caught onto it naturally enough and acted in the same manner. She was looking forward to some time with her good friend Katie anyway.

Melissa didn't touch Katie like what had transpired between the two boys but she turned, smiling right at her so it became obvious that her words were for her and her alone. With a flick of her head, she spoke.

"I think we'll go to my room first. We can figure stuff out from there." she said with a continual smile and then because she felt that Gary's touch on her shoulder was okay, she decided to do the same to Katie.

Her hand lingered on her shoulder and started to direct her off out of the room when the orange haired of the two began to bravely nod once again. Before they could properly exit the kitchen to do their own thing with me following behind them, Gary's spine curved a fraction as he reached to pat the two girls' on the tops of their heads.

Then after this gesture was done, he returned to his full height and his chest felt the casual fold of his arms, approving of the things that his daughter had said.

"Sounds good. I'm going to clean the kitchen up a bit before putting the pizza on. Fun!" Gary of course said some of his words sarcastically in contrast to the last word that had come out of his mouth and it caused Katie to be unable to resist smirking.

Yet again, he had somehow eased the situation. I nodded my head approvingly in a similar manner to which he had folded his arms over his chest. My own mouth became a curve. And with that, the two girls did indeed head off to Melissa's bedroom with me following. Gary was left to give the kitchen a bit of a spritz before dinner.

As the three of us walked up towards the top of the stairs, it already seemed like Eddie and Ben were having a whale of the time judging by the noises that were coming out of the eldest Oak son's bedroom. Melissa and Katie gave each other a bit of an eyebrow arched look when they heard the commotion but then they headed on their way, shutting the door behind them after I had followed them in.

I made myself comfy on the end of Melissa's bed. Katie looked as though she wanted to as well but she was encouraged to follow her friend over to her vast shelves of puzzles and games and books when she was gestured to with a hand.

The girl with sunflower orange hair let out a bit of a sigh as her bottom longed to plop down on the pink and white plush bedding of her Melissa bed but she had still managed to hold back most of its volume!

Melissa started to arch her brow for a different reason but then soon let it go. With Katie by her side, the two girls started to hunch over and peer into the shelves for something to do.

Pushing a deep purple part of her dual haired out of her eyes, suggestions started to be made.

"You like puzzles, don't you? I've got a really great princess one. But there's a mermaid one too if you'd prefer?" Melissa recited to a quiet Katie and though she didn't reply with words and she didn't reply with a quiet exhale either, the meaning behind this became apparent. Melissa started to crane towards the game section instead. "Okay. Well… There are lots there. Why don't you choose? I'm not fussy."

Melissa wasn't calling Katie fussy. I wouldn't call her that either. Nevertheless, she didn't seem all that interested in any of the puzzles and games that were on the shelves. In spite of the fact that she did very much peer and allow her eyes wander, reading all the titles that were on the various boxes of entertainment, they soon travelled to where they wanted to go.

Of course. Her eyes wandered to the book shelf part. She looked over at Melissa and gave her a glance with a smile in her eyes before her finger reached out, trailing along all of the spines in a delicate way.

"We… We could do some reading." Katie suggested and her finger continued trailing along the books on the shelf, the movement of her lips matching the one in her eyes as her finger moved up and down. Interestingly, she enjoyed the movement that her touch was making as Melissa's books were not in size order like hers were. Her touch halted and she prepared to lift one book out in particular. She did this as she looked at her friend and affirmed her suggestion. "L-Let's read."

Although the eldest Oak daughter had a smile on her face and a kind crease in her eyes as she listened to and looked at Katie, she suddenly reached her hand out and touched her, her fingers loosely gripping around her wrist to prevent her from grabbing the blue colored hardback book entirely. Melissa's head shook.

"But it's a Friday night! And that's basically homework." Her head bobbed more. But it was done with fondness I think. Her eyebrows drew together and the corner of her mouth quivered.

Katie's cheeks turned the color of a different book and her fingers dropped away from the one she was holding like Melissa had really uttered the words 'you're weird' after saying what she had actually spoken away.

She swallowed. She tried to swallow the redness in her cheeks. She managed to speak again after doing so, her own eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"But… Y-You like reading too." Katie pointed out and as Melissa's touch dropped from her wrist, she couldn't help but reach out to the books all over again. But that time, her touch was laced with feebleness and was a little bit forlorn.

Thankfully, as she continued to tilt her head in confusion and she blinked those wide eyes of hers, Melissa responded to her quickly. She responded to her reassuringly, too.

"I do like reading." she told her friend and Katie wordlessly nodded her head, her eyes dropping to the floor before looking at the titles on the book wistfully. It was Melissa's turn to sigh. After she did this, she added, tucking a loose strand of auburn hair behind just one of her ears. "I like that with you. I just don't feel like it tonight."

My nose lifted in the air from Melissa's bed as I listened. My smile was wan. I knew not to interrupt. I knew that they would figure things out eventually. Sometimes it was a little bit tricky when Eddie and Ben matched up together perfectly and in spite of their constant bickering like their fathers, they often agreed to what they wanted to do.

Katie and Melissa did get on well, it was true. But their interests often didn't coincide. Maybe that was why it worked a good amount most of the time. Maybe that was why they did enjoy each other's company. After all, opposites did attract, didn't they?

A short silence befell the room after Melissa's previous words. Katie copied her sigh. And then after a couple of seconds of looking around the room and looking at each other, the Ketchum girl bit her lip and this was followed by her breaking the silence with words.

She even pushed a loose strand of hair behind her own ear and funnily enough, she did it to the opposite one compared to the Oak girl.

"I could read. And you could do something else." Katie proposed in a quiet but an adamant voice and then she caught on to how these words could have come across. She added and corrected the situation before Melissa could start to frown as well as tilt her head and wrinkle her nose. She made a point of smiling. "We've… got the rest of the evening to do things together. We could sit on your bed and do different things?"

Unable to resist nodding, I had a twinkle in my eye as I observed this. Katie really had wanted to make herself comfy on the bed, hadn't she?! I didn't blame her. I was enjoying myself. It felt very soft against my fur. And it felt cozy be there and observing the happenings.

I observed as Melissa hesitated for a little bit, listening to what the eldest Ketchum daughter had put forth. She considered it, running it through her mind. After letting out an exhalation of breath and her shoulders daintily moving up and down, all possible frowns faded away from her expression and she eventually nodded her head.

Melissa made a point of smiling as well, her hand resting on the shelf so it gave her easy access to grab hold of Katie's wrist yet again if need be.

"Okay then. That sounds okay." She agreed with a smile and because it was needed, her hand was able to dart out and reach for Katie's wrist when she started to try and grab hold of that blue book all over again. She blinked and Melissa was made to explain. "Not yet though. I want to go and see what the boys are up to. They're having a lot of fun and it's making me curious." The look in her eyes proved her words were true. "Besides, I'll need to quieten them down a bit if you're going to read."

As my attention swiveled over to Katie in particular, I noticed how she couldn't help but feel like this was a bit of a bluff and Melissa wanted to join in with all of the boy's noise. Nevertheless, she considered. And because her friend had agreed to let her get on with reading, she knew that she had to oblige to this as well.

And so, the three of us were off switching rooms yet again and we headed off to where indeed all the commotion was coming from. Because Ben had mentioned the word 'battles' to the whole room before he and Eddie had darted off, my mind was filled with ideas and images as we headed along the hallway to the seven year old boy's room.

I gathered that the dual haired boy and the raven haired one were practicing their imaginary skills for when they both became fully fledged Pokémon Trainers – and their whopping and yelling and even screaming noises were due to recreating an intense battle at the Pokémon League.

Oh how I was wrong! Oh how wrong I was. And this was shown to me when Melissa pushed open the door to her twin brother's room and the first thing that we all laid eyes upon was Eddie being pinned down by Ben on top of him and he was so on top of him that he couldn't move. A fake sword pricked against his throat.

The two boys were clearly deep in game from the way that neither of them noticed any of us intruders, and they continued their make believe spiel.

"Muahaha! This pirate has Pokémon powers as well! This is swords dance." Ben announced with a mock demented gleam in just the one eye of his that he was allowing to open and then he drew the toy sword away from the neck of Eddie.

The Oak boy was able to breathe. But not for long. Soon enough he was almost rendered breathless and into fits of giggles when (despite the pain) the Ketchum stood up directly on top of his legs and indeed did a bit of a dance with the swords!

He was dedicated to the game; I had to give him that! Once again, I had to suck on my own cheeks not to laugh. Neither Katie nor Melissa had a similar reaction. They both looked at each other with all the embarrassment in the world and then one of them spoke, her arms folding over her chest as an invisible fish hook pulled her eyebrow upwards.

"You're making an awful lot of noise for a game that is so silly." Melissa told both of the boys but naturally, her gaze was directed mostly towards her twin brother. Somehow, both Eddie and Ben's attention was garnered by the girl voice and straight away; they looked over to the three of us stepping over the line into Eddie's room.

Promptly, he narrowed his eyes at Melissa's voice, let alone hearing the words that she was saying. After they registered to him and he gave Ben a shove and a wave of the hand, indicating that he was starting to overstay his welcome by standing on top of his stretched out legs, Eddie retorted, his tongue threatening to poke out of his lips childishly.

"Your voice is awfully loud for someone so silly." His reply came curtly and as Katie's eyes swiveled around the room, I read this as her thinking his reply was valid, even if it was a little harsh! Melissa soon enough copied his eye narrow. Eddie fully poked his tongue out. And then his nose lifted in the air, his eyes shutting while Ben stood on the carpet rather than his legs. "If you don't like our game, go away."

Eddie's eyes remained shut. Melissa's eyes were narrowed. Katie's eyes darted. Ben's started too as well. The Ketchum twins never bickered like that! Sure, they argued with each other and they fell out. But they never usually started on each other for no reason.

However, even though Eddie and Melissa's spats could often last for a very long time, the girl of the two suddenly relented on that day and after her eyes became slits all the more, she widened them. She properly crossed over the line into her twin brother's room. He could feel this with closed eyes.

"I didn't say that. We want to play too. That's why we're in here." She gave her then opened eyed brother an innocent look to which he shot her a skeptical one, his head tilting. Meanwhile, Katie's eyes stopped darting and resumed their former saucer shape.

Quickly, she was appalled! She had entered the very blue and very car orientated room of Eddie out of politeness. She certainly didn't have any desire to stay. She actually voiced this as Ben dropped his sword on the ground, his fingers clasping each other in order to massage them.

"But… But you said you came here to quieten them down." Katie confusedly stated and fortunately for Melissa in the presence of her overly teasing brother, she didn't mention the fact that her friend thought it sounded like the boys were having fun and she was curious about it.

My brow started to furrow as poor Katie's voice was ignored completely and Eddie started to sit up and then stood up next to Ben, mocking taking gloves off his hands and looking snootily over at his twin sister. He didn't really look over in the other girl's direction so it made sense that he hadn't even heard her words. Yet it still caused my brow to twitch!

"Fine." Eddie began and after looking over at his friend, it seemed as though he was the one in charge and he was the one who was able to give orders to the girls. He was especially the one who was able to give orders to his twin sister! "You can sit over there and grab my old game controller. You can pretend to be giving Ben and me the commands. That's my final and only offer."

Out of habit, Melissa's face scrunched up in response to Eddie's words and her eyes resembled lines once again. I almost had the same expression too when her brother came out with the words 'Katie too'. Not that she cared about that at all. She didn't care for the boys games in the slightest.

Seconds passed and Melissa's expression mellowed. Eddie started to nod. Melissa copied him. Ben acted as the fair one most of the time so had been nodding almost all of the time! The eldest Oak daughter let out an exhalation of breath that was her accepting the offer – even if it was a bit of a naff one.

However, she was made to let out an exhalation of breath for a different reason when she caught Katie's exasperated eye and it became evident that she had heard her previous words after all, even if she hadn't even reacted to them.

Melissa replied before Katie had a chance to voice her opinion yet again, trying to give her a reassuring look but it came off as desperate from the way that she knew that she had promised her friend something else entirely.

"We won't be here long. You can grab your book and read it here. But we won't be long." She spoke and with that, she wasn't really given too much say in the matter from the way that Melissa wandered into the room even more and placed herself down on a bean bag after hunting for the game controller that Eddie had been referring too.

I was beginning to frown at how the eldest Ketchum daughter was being treated but I decided to keep an eye on it for a bit longer, heading over to join Melissa on the bean bag. I half expected Katie to do the same thing out of very quiet protest but after quietly swallowing and attempting to nod her head, she headed out of the room. I realized that she was making her way back to Melissa's book to reunite herself with the book.

Not thinking too much of it, I watched Eddie and Ben resuming their game, positioning themselves so that time, it was Ben lying on the ground and Eddie could show off his skills from above. This wasn't me being biased but Ben definitely put on a better swords dance display than his best friend!

His was simply so over the top and extravagant that it was highly memorable! Eddie didn't have the same carefreeness and flair as he. I sucked on my cheeks all over again and stuck into watching. Melissa got stuck into pretending to click buttons and control the situation but of course, she was mostly smirking at the display from Eddie. No doubt was she laughing at him rather than with him!

This made me laugh some more, forgetting about waiting for Katie. However, after a good few minutes, it finally dawned on me. It finally dawned on me how long it had been since she had returned from Melissa's room when I had heard Gary from downstairs pre-heating the oven and then minutes later actually putting the pizza inside it.

Eddie and Ben continually swapping positions and swapping roles proved this to me all the more. I started to frown again, looking around the room and seeing if anyone else noticed. They didn't. It was my turn to sigh. Abandoning the bean bag and the room completely, I headed to the Melissa's room where I half expected Katie to be on her bed and her nose in that blue book.

I was stood correct. After it became apparent that all there was to see was an empty room and an empty slot in the shelf where that deep oceanic hardback book once was, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to ask Gary if he had spotted her heading to another cozy nook of the house to do her reading.

I was, however, not given the chance to as when I entered the kitchen and the warmth of the oven hit my face and the delicious smell of pizza cooking filled my nostrils as well, Katie herself was just trudging up to Gary with the book of course in her hands as the auburn haired Pokémon Researcher chopped vegetables into stick shapes on the kitchen counter top.

Deciding to just linger in the doorway, I watched as Katie too lingered by Gary. She didn't do anything. She didn't say anything. She didn't speak. She didn't move. She simply waited. Needless to say, Gary did a lot of things when his head turned just a fraction and he caught side of the little girl standing there!

He yelped. He jumped. He almost dropped his knife! He managed not to swear. Katie merely blinked and hardly reacted to this loud display.

Gary was forced to hold a hand over his heart and inhale and exhale, settling his breath before putting on a mock-composed expression. And not making a big deal out of the fact that Katie had left the children of her own age, he pretended to go back to chopping vegetables after gesturing to the noises coming out of the radio on the other side of the kitchen counter.

"Nice music, huh? Your dad's favorite." he uttered casually and then he turned back to the side to garner the seven year old girl's response. He was met with a continual widening of the eyes as well as them darting! One corner of my mouth elevated. I could see she wasn't impressed. She wasn't interested. So she didn't say a word. Gary sighed fondly, offering her a friendly look too. "You couldn't find something interesting to do with my daughter?"

He understood that he was going to have to address the situation rather than play it off. Leaving the vegetables and the knife alone for good, he wiped any excess juice from his hands onto his jeans and he bent down to Katie's level.

Katie bit her lip. For a moment, she was unsure what to say. For a moment, she couldn't figure out what to say. So, she decided simply not to decide. She avoiding answering completely and switched the conversation onto Gary.

Katie stepped a little bit aside as Gary still smiled over at her as she held the book firmer, her eyes then darting between he and the clock on the wall.

"Are you sure that clock isn't slow?" she questioned and almost immediately, with his hand on his thigh as he kneeled closer to the child's level, Gary's smile faded away and a bit of an amused yet also a disbelieved expression took over his face.

He inhaled through his nose and won himself some time by simply speaking her name first of all.

"Katie…" Gary began and promptly, this made the seven year old girl's toes dance with uneasiness on the wooden floor of the Oak Household. Admirably, she managed to wander her eyes upwards to look at her friend's father as he stood back up to his full height and ran a hand through his far softer, no longer spiky locks. Maybe it was this that caused Gary to continue acting with calmness rather than losing the patience that he had. "Do you need suggestions for things to do?"

I had to say that I appreciated how he copied Misty's example and didn't try to remind the child that she should be having fun without both of her parents. He didn't try to alienate her. In fact, that was the last thing that he wanted.

I knew that it was this effort on Gary's part that caused Katie to respond mildly well to him and instead just talk to him. After hearing what he had to say, she thought about it and she considered and then she finally spoke. It should have been obvious by the fact that she was still hugging the book to her chest.

"I… I wanted to read. But they're being very loud." Katie shook her head, speaking matter-of-factly. She spoke nothing but the truth. Nevertheless, showing that she was not only tuned in to her own truth but other people's as well, her honest expression twitched to an almost amusing narrowed eyed one when Gary's mouth opened to reply. This caused Katie to shake her head all the more vehemently. "No."

With this final word that escaped from Katie's lips, I knew and Gary knew that she was savvy to his oncoming suggestion that he should probably join in the children's noisy game rather than escaping it. He then had that screwed up, slightly fond expression on his face all over again.

But, sweetly showing that Gary was in tune to Katie as well, he decided to speak words back to her. She discovered herself to be at the end of his gently pointed finger. He had firmness yet fairness in his eyes as he looked down at her, her gazing up at him from her seven year old height in the kitchen. He knew what she wanted. He would grant it. But only momentarily.

"You can read in here. I can be quiet when I need to be. But I will send you back to Melissa after dinner if not before." Gary told the eldest Ketchum daughter and in response, she merely blinked her eyes at first.

But then, it was her lips pressing together in a very small, much hidden, half grateful smile that caused Gary to properly smile. And he definitely did so when she took another shy step forward and he knew that he was to lift her up underneath her armpits and sit on the counter top next to the radio to do some reading.

Kindly, Gary turned the volume down a bit. Katie didn't acknowledge this with words but she showed gratitude by starting to relax a little bit, her legs swinging as she excitedly opened the first page of the bright, big, blue book. Her favorite.

She felt the same way each and every time that she read all of the words. It never got old for her.

Her glittering eyes and cheeks growing rosy told of exactly this and as she smiled, she got stuck into reading. Gary was unable to refrain from continuing to have a curved mouth, almost stuck in his tracks as he watched her for a moment. But then, he resumed what he was doing and preparing dinner on that Friday night for us all.

Going above and beyond his statement that he could actually be quiet, he was very quiet as he bustled around doing his own thing. He didn't hum or sing along to the soft sound of the radio. He didn't clatter cutlery too loudly. He didn't bash bowls.

I started to think that he was probably enjoying the quiet and relaxed atmosphere as much as Ash's daughter was. Looking up at the ceiling where I could still very much hear the noise coming from Eddie's bedroom, they obviously somehow couldn't hear that continual commotion even though I very much could!

Gary and Katie were almost in their own little bubble. That bubble was burst very gently and very naturally. My head falling back towards the scene rather than with amusement towards the ceiling, I was surprised that it was Katie breaking the silence by speaking to the male in the kitchen.

She held the book out to him, pointing and gesturing as her legs swung underneath it a little more.

"What… What does this word say here?" she asked him with her finger tapping on the page. Although he had his head in the fridge at that point and he was checking he had the right amount of dessert for everybody, he didn't sigh and his shoulders didn't move before he stopped what he was doing. After he shut the fridge door and approached the seven year old girl, he peered to where she was pointing and gave her an answer. He told her that he thought she would definitely know, given the amount of times she had read that book. So Katie replied back with a casual shrug. "I just wondered if you would say it differently…"

Another soft, rosy tint formed on Katie's cheeks as she drew the book back to her after getting her answer and speaking her own as well. Her legs in her flared skirt and long knee socks bounced against the kitchen cupboards below.

Gary smirked at her answer. He should have known it would be something like that judging by who her mother was! He found it easy to reply, loitering a little closer that time and not really doing anything in particular as he stayed by the fruit bowl, idly poking apples and bananas.

"I think I know how to say it properly anyway. I haven't read the book, granted. But I've seen and heard lots of other material." he told her and before he could smirk knowingly over at her or catch on to my presence and smirk in the same manner at me too, the seven year old girl did what children often did.

Katie reacted and displayed everything that she was thinking. Conveyed on her face by a widening of her eyes and her mouth falling open, she simply couldn't believe that Gary hadn't read one of her most favorite books in all of the world! It was a classic.

Instead of making sure that he was telling the truth to her, her eyes continued widening and in a bit of a breathy voice, she told him.

"You should." Katie exhaled out in disbelief and then to almost savor the experience of reading it herself, her eyes fell back to the page and got absorbed there. And in spite of the fact that she was visibly flying through the wonderful world and drinking tea and chasing rabbits, Gary with a smile on his face noticed this and suggested even so.

Abandoning poking the fruit for good, he turned fully to her and folded his arms over his chest. This was him being… dare I say it? Shy?

"Well… You could read it aloud to me now." Gary suggested a little tentatively and because his best friend's daughter was indeed was in a world of her own – or rather, in the world put forth by a very prestigious author – she didn't seem as though she heard the words from him immediately. In fact, it didn't appear as though she had heard them at all.

And that time, it wasn't because she was pretending to ignore them. It wasn't because she didn't want to engage in answering them.

Gary's lips started to press together and he nodded his head, indicating that it was a silly suggestion anyway and it didn't happen. That was when Katie reacted. That was when her head snapped upward in such a pointed and telling way that it was quite endearing to see.

Surprised and shyly, her head began to tilt and her nose scrunched. Gary started to copy both of these gestures but then continued tilting his head the longest. He offered a smile, his arms still folded over his chest.

However, before Katie could return with the embarrassed words that she wasn't very good at reading aloud or she could shyly try and change the subject – and long before I even thought of heading back upstairs to find Melissa again after finding Katie – that dual haired girl entered the room.

Visibly not noticing a bit of a moment between Gary and Katie and so not caring that she was interrupting it, Melissa didn't seem surprised that her friend was where she was. She showed this by speaking to Katie straight away in between air escaping her lips and her hair feeling the touch of her hand.

"You were right, Katie. We should have read after all. Their game ended up even more silly! And extremely unrealistic." She admitted with an exasperated head shake and then her eyebrows knotted together in a bit of an apology, and also gladness to see someone who was not a silly boy!

Even so, it was Gary who laughed at this and though Katie heard the words from Melissa and shyly smiled in response, it was her father who answered. He wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders as she curiously joined his side and he brushed her hair out of her eyes for her.

"Well you're right on time because Katie was going to get stuck with reading to me otherwise!" he began and because Melissa had too, I finally entered the room as well. I made my presence known, hopping onto the kitchen counter top near where the stove lie so I could feel the warmth travelling up from the oven. My extra closeness made me see the almost soft disagreement in Katie's eyes after Gary said these words. She wasn't stuck with anything. Still, he continued while Melissa grinned. "You two can do that now then, can't you? Dinner is in ten minutes though."

Someone hesitated. It was Katie. She had been quiet all along but she still visibly hesitated. She almost bit her lip. Melissa looked at her friend in the same hesitance and even the same nearing bite on the lip. She heard her father's words. It was true that she hadn't noticed any moment but now that moment was presented to her, she knew exactly what she wanted.

Melissa considered reading with Katie. Melissa considered the fact that it was hardly any time at all until dinner. She quickly came to a conclusion. She knew exactly what was to be done!

However, she went about it tactfully and subtly and at first, all she did was encourage Gary's hand off her shoulder and into her own hand while Katie placed the book down in her lap and bounced her legs. Gary threatened to frown in confusion at this affection and then decided to enjoy it, his lips lifting,

It was after this happened that Melissa found her voice.

"Well… We can all do that. Katie can read to us both." She started to smile, showing off her real feelings rather than subtly. Immediately, Gary waved a hand to prove that Katie didn't have to do anything she didn't want to. He felt this was especially necessary in case she had been ignoring him suggesting the same thing. I saw and Melissa saw the way that Katie's eyes shyly widened and her cheek pouted with uncertainty. It was up to the eldest Oak daughter to reassure her friend. "You're so good at it. I want to hear this book from an expert."

What made my heart and cheeks burn hotter than the oven below my paws was the smile that started to overtake Katie's expression there and then. It was true that she tried to keep it hesitant and uncertain but after the encouragement from her friend, she couldn't help but hope she could live up to that flattery.

The seven year old girl scrunched her nose with shyness as she looked over at Gary. He didn't look back at her, too busy doting upon his own seven year old at the imperceptible yet sweet kindness she had shown Katie to encourage her. This worked out for the best though. I watched as this worked out for the best.

After the eldest Ketchum daughter properly bit her lip and took an inhale of breath, she joined Gary and Melissa in their casualness – she copied it – as the two of them went over to the arm chair together that lingered up between some of the cupboards in the kitchen.

I felt that it wasn't possible for my heart to fill with even more joy at that moment but I was stood correct when after Melissa hopped onto his lap when he was seated in the arm chair, Katie hopped down from the counter top and she climbed onto the arm of the chair with Gary. She didn't exactly sit upon his knee but she was close enough.

She obviously felt close enough to the two of them from the way that not long after they were all seated and another breath was had, Katie began reading aloud her most favourite book in the entire world. It perhaps felt a little strange to her that it wasn't her Uncle James and I being on the receiving end of it. But it probably felt really good as well. I certainly felt that way. But I knew that feeling was in the heart of Katie too.

However, uncertainty and hesitance was then in the heart of Gary when a few minutes into the reading session, he started to notice his daughter leaning over into the kitchen cupboard where her hair ties and clips and bows resided to be ready for school on Monday mornings.

He knew exactly what this meant! He hated to interrupt Katie but he started to feel it completely necessary. After nudging the reading girl as an apology for his interjection, he looked at his daughter with wide eyes as she did indeed have a handful of hair ties and bows. Her other hand was preparing to reach out for his auburn locks.

"Are you sure that's entirely necessary? Dinner is really soon!" Gary tried to put off his daughter but he should have known that there was no doing that. Not offended by the interruption and amused instead, Katie started to giggle. It felt good to have a bit of a breather from reading carefully and precisely and trying not to mess up any words.

Melissa began to see her father through smaller eyes. Gary gulped and widened his own ones in a fearful yet joking way. His daughter reached her hand forward and tufted her hand in his locks a few seconds before she nodded and affirmed her words.

"Yep. It'll help you hear better." she insisted emphatically and with that, his attention was to Katie. She gave him an amused look that told him he should probably comply. Gary sighed. But then he indeed complied!

The scene resumed with Katie reading to the two people and of course me too from inhaling the wonderful pizza fumes and Melissa doing some very questionable hair styles on her father.

It was true that Katie was absorbed in her world. It was true she was absorbed in the words. It was true she was absorbed in what she was doing. But it was also true that she absorbed in the world with the two people next to her as well.

Coming to the end of the first chapter, after considering it to herself and gearing herself up to it, Katie nudged Melissa like Gary had done to Katie and she gave her a shy but sincere smile, returning her kindness and encouragement from before.

"I think you should read now. I… I love the way you do it too." she told her friend and after a look of surprise was formed from Melissa, the two girls bashfully smiled at one and other.

Sheepishly but gladly, the eldest Oak daughter took hold of the book that was her own and a favorite of Katie and prepared to read it in the same manner as her good friend.

After Gary smiled softly and secretly to himself, I shouldn't have been surprised from the way that Katie started to continue the questionable (neater, but questionable) hair styles on her father's best friend while his daughter was the one to read. His breath hitched in his throat!

But then he didn't deny it. He didn't deny the time with his daughter and his daughter's friend and knew that in years to come and when they were grown up, he would look back on it with the greatest fondness in all of the world. Perhaps not the styles that they gave him! But the memories definitely.

One person who would look back in equal parts fondness was Misty. Her face was a picture when hours later she returned with Jayme and she returned to her children while the orange haired one came to collect hers.

You see, Gary had not sent the two girls back upstairs after all, not even after dinner. When the two women came back in the house from their lovely night out, they returned to the auburn haired Pokémon Researcher in the chair with the book of Katie's oddly abandoned and both girls' doing his hair! They had since decorated his nails too.

It was this that made Jayme burst into laughter almost immediately and hold a hand over her heart, becoming diamonds in the night. Misty held a hand over her own heart and had gleaming eyes and a smile for different reasons. She was quietly overjoyed that Katie had taken to him so much.

However, I was left laughing in the same manner as Jayme when Misty of course showed this in an entirely concealed way.

"Wow…" she began and Gary blushed almost the same shade as his fuchsia nails as he prepared to come up against the words that his best friend's wife would go on to say. Fortunately or unfortunately, she soon came out with them! A smirk rather than a smile, Misty continued. "And here I thought it would be you messing with my daughter rather than the other way around."

In return, Gary managed a feeble smirk and after the women's chuckles managed to die down and mine did as well, Katie's eyes grew round and innocent as like the beginning of the evening; she wondered what those words meant.

However, soon enough she pushed past all of that. Soon enough she pushed past all of that and instead of running to hug her mother like usual, she kept her hand in Gary's hair as she turned it into yet another style and she smiled hopefully at Misty.

"Can… Can I visit him again really soon?" she asked and while the two women chuckled yet softened in surprise and I reacted similarly. Melissa merely turned to look at her friend but it wasn't out of jealousy. She didn't frown. Even so, Katie added, with more hope in her eyes as she started to approach her daughter and Gary. "Melissa too."

And while Misty replied words along the lines of that she hoped Gary could survive another play date – and the two boys from upstairs came down to hear the return of the mothers and ended up with wide eyes at what was going on with Gary – Melissa continued smiling.

Melissa continued smiling and didn't to have a knot in her brow at all. I knew that she was simply glad that someone loved her dad as much as she did and she was even gladder that it was her good friend.

But then, perhaps most surprisingly of all that evening, it was Ash's best friend who verbally agreed to Katie's request. Even though he often got the last word, it was on a rare occasion that it was overwhelmingly sweet last words that came from him. It was a rare occasion. But it was a treasured one.

His nails painted and his hair very flamboyantly and not only Katie's discarded book on his lap but Katie and Melissa on there too, Gary Oak's eyes creased and he bobbed his head.

"Sure." He uttered first of all and Jayme and Misty turned, waiting for smartness to come out of his mouth. But they were not met with that. I wasn't either. None of us were. The girls relaxing against him on his lap as they giggled and started to do a hairstyle on him together, Gary answered for good. "It's nice to babysit your kid and remember that the Williams' feistiness continues."

Okay, there was a bit of humor in Gary's words! But the sincerity of them also radiated through them as well. Understanding certainly radiated in Misty's eyes after she heard this and this was one thing I greatly cherished.

However, what I cherished the most was the fact that the seven year old girl had made another friend that day. Even though she would end up running to the same and her most typical people the most, it was nice to know that she always had other people there. I wonder if she remembered that? I wonder if she remembered that even when she had children of her own?

I hoped so. It was always wonderful to have people there. It was always wonderful to have friends. It was especially wonderful to have secret and hidden ones, silently with your best interests at heart. That was Gary. That was Gary for Katie. That was Gary for Misty too. That was Gary for everybody.

I for one was wholeheartedly glad that he was beyond the boy he was at ten years old! I loved the man that he became. I loved remembering all of his stories. And cherishing them in my own book close to my heart.

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, I think I always say it whenever I write about Gary but I really do enjoy it whenever I tackle his character! It's always nice to portray the softer sides of quite the occasionally egotistical character. I hope that the older version of Katie does remember his patience and understanding towards her. I'm sure he's very proud of the young woman she grows into. And like he says, glad that Misty's feistiness gets passed along! Thanks again and I will be back next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then :)

Amy signing out!