Pikachu Tales Chapter 365: The One With The Incarnations, a pokémon fanfic

Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! This one was written almost a year ago now so required quite a bit of editing but still is one that I always intended to upload. It's just a bit of a mother and daughter tribute, really! In this chapter we see Misty reflect on some different moments in Katie's life and what it means to be her mother. From a seven year old needing some bribery to get her to school, to navigating her new romance with Justin and beyond. Misty is there to offer her wisdom and most importantly, her presence through it all. Their dynamic definitely reminds me of my relationship with my own Mum. I hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

Misty tried not to stare at her daughter over by the mirror but try as she might, she could not reign her gaze in. While Katie combed her fingers through her hair, absentminded smile parting her lips as she prepared to go out for the evening, a wave of emotion cascaded over the mother. One that could only be described by a feeling rather than words.

Experiencing redness creeping up her neck, the lady with hair the color of an impressive sunset tried to steady herself. Within her daughter's then twenty-five-year-old reflection, she saw the faces and the memories of all the incarnations that her child had once been.

The sweet little lady with her hair in a side plait and her school socks tugged over her knees. The growing young lady with a hand over her heart as she tried to navigate a situation she never would have believed to find herself in. And of course, the new-born baby with the wispiest locks you had ever seen and eyes that looked as if they were already longing to ask a million questions.

In her daughter's reflection not bothering to look back at her there and then, Misty saw a lifetime. She could not wait for other adventures that she would be invited on thanks to the presence of Katie in her life. And because of this, she cast her mind back on each and every face of her daughter and each and every face too.

One incarnation couldn't help but pop into her mind's eye rather effortlessly. Misty was taken back. And as I watched her and somehow sensed every one of the profound emotions she was experiencing, I was as well.

School bag loitering at the base of a dining chair placed in front of a mirror in the kitchen, Misty stood behind her daughter, brush in hand as she waited for her child to stop talking long enough for her to construct her plait for her.

I looked over from the kitchen table stop and couldn't refrain from smiling in a manner that gave the morning sunlight streaking in through the blinds a run for its money. And try as Misty might have tried to appear impatient – or at the very least, concerned that time was cracking on – her shoulders could not help but melt down as a small smile tugged her lips.

Instead of reminding the seven-year-old child that she would almost be late for school, she listened to her chatting away to seemingly herself.

"No, n-no… That's tomorrow, not t-today." She whispered in a secret sort of voice, head ducking to seemingly avoid looking in the mirror and seeing her mother and her own reflection staring back at her. A mysterious smile bent her mouth upwards at the one corner. "Yes, t-that's right. We might see him at lunch then."

Instead of looking back behind her and filling her line of vision with me, Misty appeared to meet the gaze of her own reflection, sharing a private look with herself. She knew Katie very well, she thought to herself, as the unused brush still lingered in her hold. She had such an imagination! She was often chattering away under her breath. However, it was unusual to see her seemingly talking out loud to herself, Misty had to admit.

Taking an action at last and drawing the chair with Katie on backwards and closer to her as a wordless indication that chatting time must end as hair preparations for school must be done instead, Misty continued looking in the mirror but this time to study her daughter.

Katie moved her eyes towards her mother. Her shoulders drooped downwards towards her hips. But then they revolved. She gathered that she could continue talking to herself even while her mother constructed her hair for school.

"I must say that is a very intriguing conversation that you are having with yourself, Katie." Misty began in a voice like the gentle wind, not wanting to make her daughter feel strange for her actions. Her collarbones to the base of her chin, however, started to change in hue. "Are you hoping to see someone at lunch time?"

The mother tried to focus on curiosity rather than concern at that point, her eyebrows drawing upwards as she watched what the child was doing in the mirror's reflection. Katie's shoulders bounced up and down a second time and her legs in her school socks swung on the chair as her mother started to brush her hair free from knots before she could plait her locks.

She didn't like to say anything. She wasn't silly, she told herself. She knew why exactly her mother had spoken to her in this manner. She knew that she was at an age where you were meant to halt the imaginary games.

Katie decided to ignore her prior probing about her lunch time plans and focus on the first part instead.

"I'm not talking to… to mys-self." She insisted, eyebrows copying exactly what her mother's own ones were doing as her legs swinging did not grow to a halt even though they would need to when the harder part of the hair preparation would begin.

Misty decided to look down at her daughter there and then rather than the almost perfect carbon copy right in front of them. Having finished freeing her daughter's locks from any knots, the hairbrush grew redundant for just a moment.

Katie could feel her mother's fingers gently cupping around her shoulders in her rich purple school jumper.

"Oh, are you talking to me, then? You'll have to speak up if that's the case." Misty spoke to her daughter in a tone of voice that I could only describe as motherly. We all know the kind of one. With a hint of knowing to the edge of the tone but with gentleness all the same.

Again, Katie was not fooled. Her mother was transparent to her. Truthfully, almost everybody was.

Finally, her legs stopped swinging away from her body and once she had finished with these actions, her black socks were loitering just under both knees rather than over them. I knew that Misty would have to rectify this later!

"I'm not talking to you." Katie managed to insist without fault. Although she would have preferred to keep quiet, she was still at that age where she loathed the idea of someone getting something wrong about her. A long pause came as she decided whether she would continue her sentences. "I'm talking to Mr Hugsy."

I could visibly see the wave of relief that washed over Misty right then even though she had tried to conceal it. She didn't do the best job at it from the way that as she clasped a hand to her heart, the hairbrush went along with it.

From my position on the kitchen island top, I could see that previous nervous red flush to her neck had faded away and her porcelain skin seemed all the paler than usual. But it made her seem very pretty. She was especially stunning when she knew she didn't have to worry about anything.

An exhale that was trying to be silent breezed out of her slightly parted lips, intending to be casual as she spoke to her daughter some more, flipping all her locks over the same shoulder so she could begin plaiting it.

"Ahhh, he is such a good listener, isn't he?" These words needed no bribery as they tumbled out of Misty's lips but then something else happened. Not exactly something unnatural. Her throat feeling pricked from the inside rather than the outside, she expressed her confusion. "He must be the best listener if he can hear all the way from your bedroom, huh?" she tried to speak these words in the hope that she would be proven wrong. But when in her reflection, Katie purposely avoided her mother's eyes, that pricking sensation could not be ignored like a rose growing through the soil. "You did leave him in your bedroom, didn't you?"

Misty had drawn her eyebrows close together as she tried not to seem like she was mad at Katie. She wasn't. But they had agreed on certain things on that day.

The older of the pair felt her eyebrows breaking the distance with each other. She hoped that her daughter would soon look up and share a glance with her, reassuring her that she had indeed complied and left him lounging in bed.

Misty would have to wait quite some time!

Katie couldn't help but buckle her shoulders in a secret manner before her hands clasped over her face in a desperate and wasted attempt to conceal her giggles. Misty could not conceal the urge of breathing out her daughter's name.

Once Katie had heard her own name being spoken back to her, she watched her mother discard the hairbrush on the kitchen island top next to me and begin to squat down after she realized that her school bag wasn't lulling there and plumper than usual for no reason.

The seven-year-old girl had to hiccup back her giggles and remove both of her hands from in front of her face in an attempt to prevent her mother from fully catching on.

"No, d-don't do that…" she tried to begin but it was too late. She had caught the look that her mother offered her and then following that, her mother had fully squatted to the ground and was unzipping open her school backpack.

I was surprised that before then, I hadn't noticed the unusual plumpness of her school bag. I had supposed that she had stuffed her coat in there for later so she wouldn't forget it. Or I had missed a beat and it was actually Tuesday rather than Monday and she had her PE lesson.

When Misty zipped open the bag, I quickly saw how foolish I had been and how on it she was as ever! After the bag groaned in a constrained manner, seemingly very relieved not to keep that secret anymore, two ears suddenly pinged free from hiding in the dual toned backpack.

Misty hadn't meant to grab hold of one of these ears to free the white plush bear. But she did mean it when she turned to look at Katie, giving her a look that she hoped was equal measures firm and fair.

"Katie, you know that he is not allowed to go with you anymore." Misty reminded her daughter, and from the seven-year old's point of view, her tone and look was the one thing and the one thing only and it wasn't fair. Still holding Mr Hugsy by the ear, he was not allowed to plop down into the open lap of the child. "That is why Uncle James is coming over here to take you to school. We agreed, didn't we? No bear going into school, but James dropping you off instead."

The seven-year-old child did a rare thing by erecting her spine on the chair and snatching Mr Hugsy away from her mother's hold. Katie too had grabbed him by one of the ears. But she needed to save him, didn't she? She made it up to him by wordlessly holding him against her lap and massaging those creamy white lobes of his in a gentle fashion, refusing to speak to her mother.

I watched silently as, although the child did indeed not speak to her mother, she might as well have from the way that she couldn't help but look at her as her eyes burned through her reflection in the mirror! She did not need to be spoken to like that. She knew what they had agreed. And yes, she had agreed to it.

But it was almost school time. And Mr Hugsy really wanted to go with her. He liked lounging in her backpack and being a secret away from the other kids. He didn't care that his presence seemed to irk them. Only when it left Katie getting mean comments from the other children, of course.

"Katie…" Misty began to relent and attempt to reason with her child, not enjoying the way that she had been looking at her and feeling remorseful over the way that she had yanked the bear about so. She remained crouching down but this time to try and capture the gaze of her daughter rather than root through more of her bag. "Mr Hugsy needs to stay here. Now more so than ever. I need to make it up to him from the way that I hurt his poor ears."

A hand tried to reach out to the regal, well-loved looking bear and stroke his ears in an attempt to make amends. However, it was not allowed from the way that Katie protectively snatched her dear friend away from any kind of touch that her mother had to offer.

An exhalation of breath tumbled out from the nostrils of Misty and this time it was one that she allowed her daughter to hear. Slowly, she rose from crouching, knowing when to quit and give her child a bit of space.

This space in the end allowed Katie to find her voice. Tension forming in the center of her forehead with just how much she frowned, and her chin formed little bubbles as it puckered together, she muttered, her little fingers looking as if they would never let Mr Hugsy go again.

"I don't even want to go to school anyway." She grumbled, lips pursing together even more as she held her white bear to her chest, her nose drooping down into the comfort of his fur and his fingertips residing in those adored strands.

Misty took a step back, but it wasn't like she hadn't heard these words before. Her own fingertips falling to her hips in a similar manner to bring herself some comfort, she shared a look with me. When our eyes met, my throat seemed to feel much smaller, and I knew that I wanted nothing more than to make things better for her. For them both.

In her eyes, Misty conveyed all without having to say anything at all.

Everyone had tried to make Katie feel more confident going into school but truthfully, all efforts seemed to be futile. On some days, she would hold her head up high and march straight in there, knowing she had her friend Melissa joining her in her class after initially being sent to a different one at the start of the year.

But on others, she wobbled, and she did anything to stay stuck glued to the chair in the mirror, wishing that her mother brushing her hair would go on for hours. It didn't matter to her that Mr Hugsy was allowed there sometimes. It didn't matter that she had made a new friend to sit with and all his big friends at lunch time. It didn't matter Uncle James was turning up especially for her and taking her there.

Well, it was nice, she realized in hindsight. But she just didn't want to go, and nothing could make her.

"Katie…" Misty managed to capture her voice despite that at times, certain members of staff had made her feel voiceless as they tried to act as if they knew best when it came to that seven-year-old child.

However, as Katie's eyes fell shut and she refused to look at her mother or her reflection, Misty didn't have the chance to add more words to what she wanted to say or felt that she needed to say. The doorbell rang as a warning. Then keys were in the door as somebody let themselves in before making their way down the hall.

Of course, it was Uncle James. Usually, he was Katie's knight in shining armor at the best of times. But on this day, she didn't feel like being rescued by. Misty on the other hand very much did. And he knew why his best friend was looking at him in the way that she was when her eyes searched for him as soon as he arrived in the kitchen.

"Good morning, everybody. The drive over here showed me the lovely sky we are having today." He naturally allowed his first words to be small talk and then after he absorbed Misty's gaze into his skin and he felt it running through him like water dripping down into a drain, he revolved his irises in his sockets before changing tactic. "Hey there, Bubbles. You leaving your hair loose today?" Katie was turned to. "Me too."

James commented, purposely and as playfully as he could swooshing his face from side to side so everybody could see his unusually shorter locks and their curtains shimmying about around his face. I knew that he hoped that topic of conversation could break the ice a bit and cause Katie to stop looking like she had been told the worst news of her life.

Managing to portray gratitude despite everything, Misty didn't bother to inform her best friend of the truth. She sought to correcting the error, though, reaching for the hairbrush next to me and giving me a wan smile as she did so before combing it through Katie's locks.

She was lucky that she didn't shrug her away.

"It looks nice." Misty commented limply in response to James' light-hearted words, and it was lucky he was not Gary otherwise it wouldn't be just Katie who would be giving her the silent treatment!

Unfazed whether she cared about his locks or not, James flashed her a grin and reached out to her, an unspoken gesture of support causing his fingers to briefly wrap around Misty's wrist before it was fully occupied with getting Katie ready for a day that would hopefully include school.

Letting go of her mother, James then decided to turn to her seven-year-old daughter. Natural softness in his gaze, I watched as he didn't bother to suffocate her with touch, and it was the same way as between him and Mr Hugsy too.

"Can I have a chat with the old fella?" he asked, smiling down at Katie in such a way that caused her to be able to even out her expression a bit more even though she bit her tongue and didn't allow herself to speak. Following suit, Mr Hugsy turned around on her lap and peered up at James, waiting for the conversation. "Do you think that it looks like snow out there? I know what you're thinking; it's April. But the skies have that look about them."

Taking a handful of people off guard while Misty started twisting Katie's orange sunflower hued locks into a side plait, Mr Hugsy not only turned his body even further towards James, but he started talking back to him too!

In addition to this, Katie's shoulders started to loosen as a side plait started to form lulling over just the one of them. She couldn't help but listen to what was being said between her two favorite people. As if it was for the first time, she just couldn't believe how wonderful it was that the bear only seemed to speak when James was around!

He tried to find his voice in the company of others. But it was James who made him come alive. Apparently, he wasn't the only being that he did this for.

"If it snows then I can s…stay off s-chool." Katie broke her silence and Misty, and I should not have been surprised from the way that she broke it, her attitude remaining from before! The seven-year-old girl must've noticed the way that the two of us shared a look, opposite eyebrows quirking up in unison.

However, Katie ignored this and focused on her Uncle James. He breezed past the words from the seven-year-old as if he was the snowstorm that he and Mr Hugsy thought was impending.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" he spoke in response to her, his voice sounding in such a way that it was unclear whether he was agreeing with her or not! His tone was as teasingly flat as the road that might end up laying underneath snow. Katie then felt something else touching her shoulder and it wasn't her newly completed side plait. "C'mon, you. Let's start to get you properly ready for the off and then you can say bye-bye to Mommy and Mr Hugsy." He paused, more words escaping from him before Katie's frown made another, stronger appearance. "I got some time off work. So, I can pick you up at the end of the day if you would like."

That time, Misty and I managed to resist sharing eye contact with each other. Nonetheless, I for one would feel the way that although Katie wanted to more than anything insist that she didn't want to go at all, her young heart couldn't help but leap at the idea that her Uncle James could drop her off and pick her up.

She would have to suffer a day at school for this to happen. But then again, it might be worth it, mightn't it? Her special friend said he had music practice over lunch, but he might change his mind, mightn't he? Or maybe his friends would be kind enough to invite her to sit with them even without him?

She tried not to focus on this too hard. She tried to focus on the here and now. Uncle James taking her and picking her up. She also tried her hardest to ignore her knees threatening to knock together as they remained in her black school socks.

She would be okay, Katie told herself. She would make herself feel that way just to prove to her mother that she didn't have to worry after all. Yes, she knew that it made her fret that she didn't like school. And she didn't want that.

The long consideration time from the seven-year-old girl almost made Misty and James share a look even though Misty and I had managed not to. But thankfully, they resisted in the same manner that we did. And they must have been glad because after taking Mr Hugsy back off from her Uncle James, Katie adjusted her socks to their proper form and sat straighter up on her chair.

"I'd like." She agreed, her words sounding casual in comparison to the fact that her heart practically felt alive with butterflies at the idea of two car trips with her Uncle James on that day. But she knew that she didn't want to do it with one other person. James should have known not to wave farewell to Mr Hugsy. "I'm t-taking him… him in the car t-though. He wants to watch the weather."

And with that, the seven-year old's arms wrapped around her beloved bear in such a way that anybody could see that her words were not there to be argued with! But of course, if anyone was going to do this then it was going to be Misty. And not because she wanted to be argumentative.

Misty was Katie's mother. Her best interests were always at heart. She was so lucky to be able to go into school an hour later than everybody else to have extra time to psyche herself up and her Uncle James take her there and back. But she knew when too much was too much.

Evidently, Misty felt like that was too much. I was there for her to rest her hand back on the top of my head for comfort when she stood momentarily back from the scene and lulled near the kitchen counter tops.

"Katie, no. You-" she to begin but she couldn't finish her sentences. And not because Katie herself had interjected her, no. And not because that same child had pulled such a betrayed face that it rendered her mother silent either.

No, it was James to the rescue. Not that he thought much about doing so. He just knew that there was a chance to utter reassurance, so he took it. He just hoped that he didn't do this at the expense of undermining his best friend.

"That'll be fine." He granted Katie her wish and in the very next second, the child did a miraculous thing by jumping down off the chair and preparing to get her school shoes! I didn't know if James uttered a repetition of his reassuring words because of this or to tell Misty that he would make sure Mr Hugsy didn't follow her into school. "It'll be fine." Kindness quirked up both sides of his lips. "The two of us will have such a natter that he won't even dream of legging it."

And with that, with Katie out of sight and disappearing to find her school shoes, Misty knew that she would just trust in her best friend. At the end of the day, she always would, wouldn't she? After all, he was the person who was dependable enough to take her own child to school after he had dropped his own bunch off.

Showing that like her, he had Katie's best interests at heart, but he had Misty's locked up in that same place too, an arm soon draped around her waist and pulled her close to him, away from me. I tried not to grumble about it! I managed to succeed. And in doing so, I was able to watch as my best friend's wife draped a similar arm around her best friend's shoulder, pulling him closer still.

With her daughter out of earshot, she was properly able to warn him.

"I'm serious, that bear better not set foot in school with her." She tried to allow her voice to appear easy-going and jokey, but her tone revealed the seriousness of the situation that sometimes befell her family. "I'm sure Katie would be more than happy to be expelled but it wouldn't be a good look."

And despite the serious edge that engulfed Misty's voice, James still managed to see the humor in the situation – and his best friend's flair for dramatics – so he tilted his head on the one side and gave her a bit of a smirk. Then, those curved lips of his were used to press together and plant a kiss on the side of the woman's head.

Misty was accepting this regardless of everything and holding onto his arm with two of her hands at the same time to allow herself to be comforted when a head poked back around the kitchen. Well, two heads! And a voice sounded. Katie was seemingly not so out of earshot after all.

The seven-year-old child spoke words for her mother and her mother only before disappearing back to find her other patent shiny shoe.

"I don't… don't know why you have such a problem with Mr Hugsy." Katie started, immediately causing her mother to jump from the way that the child had snuck up on them both! James somehow didn't show his surprise. Maybe he knew that he would be more surprised as time went on. "I think you're acting very icy towards him."

Katie managed to not stammer. And with that, she disappeared back out of sight with Mr Hugsy and that right shoe of hers too! At first, she left Misty thinking that she had been reprimanded by her own child. But then as time went on and James couldn't stop himself from pulling away from Misty in order to hold a hand over his mouth and chuckle at the wit of the child, she knew that she was mistaken.

All the words dawned on her! So, because of this, she attacked the rest of the day with a far different demeanor. Sure, Katie could be troublesome at times even if she didn't mean to be. But when it came to the crunch, she was such a rewarding child to raise. So kind-hearted. So unusual. And indeed, so full of wit!

Misty treasured the moments that she could find herself laughing, at the expense of Katie or along with Katie when she said something clever. She was thinking of this in the following moments when, after her school shoes had been placed properly on and she was all ready to seize the day herself, the mother was watching her daughter leave for school with school bag in hand.

Misty had tried so hard to encourage her to head off. And now that she was, she almost didn't want her to go! Typical.

She knew that each day that her child wandered in through the school gates, she would return to her an older and even more rounded child. Misty adored this. But it put feelings in her heart that she couldn't quite explain either. Time certainly was going very fast, and I agreed with Misty on this.

In fact, it seemed to go by in a blur at times. That absentminded smile from Katie as she left the school on that day in not so many years would be replaced by another, different smile.

Misty was thinking of this moment too as she continually looked upon her twenty-five-year-old daughter's reflection. Not long ago she had been navigating herself in part of a world that she never could have dreamed of. And the memory of that occasion filled her mind in the following seconds.

Trying to avoid following the silhouette of her daughter in her bedroom mirror all that much but, in the end, she simply couldn't help herself. Attempting to occupy herself by the hem of her skirt while having a great many thoughts whirring round her mind, it was the franticness of her musings that caused her head to eventually jerk towards Katie.

And practically immediately although she was freeing herself from her make up from the day, she caught on and she turned to give her mother quite the look.

"Oh, go on, just say what you're thinking. Just say it." Katie's tone was soft in comparison to the directness that had formed her words. Make up removal pad hovering just over her right cheek, she managed to keep clear eye contact with the reflection of her mother to her surprise. "Hit me with it."

Misty's cheek could not help but jerk as if she had been physically hit. Her hurried response was to shake her head and look away again, wanting to portray that she really was occupied with fingering the material of her skirt.

However, she knew that Katie could see even straighter through her now that she was getting older than she could when she was a little girl. And that was saying something!

Feeling very hollow, Misty's eyebrows knotted together as they contemplated not only the words that she might say but whether she should say anything at all. But then it dawned on her that she was being encouraged to do so. So, she couldn't exactly remain quiet, could she?

"I don't have anything to say…" she began and while Katie revolved her irises, she didn't mean this in a mean way. She decided to resume taking her make up off, forgoing the rest of her foundation for a moment and ridding herself of her lipstick from her lips that had felt so different these past few days. "I don't have anything to say. I'm just-"

I hadn't been there to witness this actual occasion between Misty and her daughter, but I know that her lips parted and closed, pondering the right word to say but not getting anywhere at all. It was as if her words had been snatched from her, and her breath too. This encouraged her mouth to slam back shut and her eyebrows to draw all the closer together.

Misty wasn't sure what to expect from Katie, but she certainly didn't expect her to, when after she had let out a wave of breath, nod her head in understanding.

"Confused?" Katie finished off for her. Meeting her gaze in the reflection of her bedroom mirror for just a second, Misty nodded. Sure, that had been one of the words that popped into her mind. Another exhalation from Katie, then she continued removing her lipstick in between conversing. "You and me both." She conceded. "That's one of the reasons that I didn't tell you immediately…"

Misty felt a bit of a weight raising from her shoulders, it was true. Her and her daughter could still be on the same page even if she had admitted something to her that she had not been expecting.

Then, however, that weight came crashing back down when Katie occupied herself fully with letting her skin go bare and she could look at the silhouette of her daughter not looking back at her. The realization and the fear had the potential to suffocate her. Yet she tried not to overthink too much and focused on encouraging a further conversation.

"What were the other reasons…?" Misty wondered aloud and she knew that that already pieced together heart of hers would surely break if Katie confessed to her that she felt that she had not felt able to tell her such a thing.

The prolonged silence and the eventual sigh that erupted from Katie as she again stopped removing make up from her face filled Misty with dread. But she did not need to fret. She had done a good job in providing a safe space for her children and especially Katie.

Evidently. She had come clean in her own time.

"Because…" Katie eventually started. The seat was wriggled against in front of her bedroom mirror but hoped that it wouldn't come across that she was squirming. Her lower lip fell into her mouth before she found her voice. "I didn't want anyone else to make a massive deal. Because then it would start to feel really massive to me." A pause. With a chuckle, Katie admitted. "And I would just freak out…"

Funnily enough, Misty risked indeed freaking her daughter out there and then with her choice of words. But she couldn't stop her eyes from searching for her and she certainly couldn't stop herself from speaking.

"It kind of is massive…" Misty tried to lightly tell her daughter who was very much everything that she was. She observed Katie's fingertips rid themselves of the makeup and instead some of them reached a spot on the back of her neck that spoke of the kind of secret that she had kept to herself for a few short days. "I never would have thought…"

But Misty didn't finish this sentence. It wasn't necessary really. She didn't get interrupted either. Her sentence came to a natural end all by itself, her own hands then occupying themselves from playing with her own hair. Meanwhile, she continually watched her daughter's fingertips rubbing the back of her neck before they moved yet again, tracing over her lips.

She didn't speak words of agreement, but she might as well have from the way that she was acting. And it was this that caused Misty to not only lean slightly back from perching at the end of her daughter's bed but also soften in some ways.

She had always known of Justin and Katie's fondness for each other. While it was true that she had never imagined that they were fond of each other and in such a way that it led them to do the things that Katie had only loosely hinted at to her mother, she knew that one thing they had in common was their ability to surprise.

Together, they both had caught her off guard. It made her skin prickle to be certain. But she wasn't uncomfortable. However, Katie wondered whether she might have been.

"Should I not have told you…?" she suddenly wondered aloud, silently glad that she was no longer holding the cotton pad because it probably would have fluttered to the ground like a butterfly. Funnily enough though, she didn't worry about her touch disappearing from her lips.

Like another touch that was magnetic to that place on her body, her fingertips seemed to have taken on the same quality.

Misty knew that her eyes couldn't possibly grow any wider than when Katie had first shared her news with her! But it came a close second when she asked these words, and she was prompt to correct her position on the bed and lean closer to her daughter yet again.

She had leaned back for clarity. But now she was breaking the distance for connection. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to think such a thing, so she spoke of this.

"I am pleased that you told me, Katie. I don't want you to feel that you must keep things a secret. Especially not something as…" Misty meant well, and she meant to continue effortlessly. But she was stuck for a word to describe the coming together of Justin and Katie. It wasn't exactly the norm for the two of them, but it was still not an unheard-of situation. Was it… beautiful? She hadn't seen them together in that way long enough to know. Eventually, she stopped trying to think of the right word and changed her tactic, the whites of her eyes sparkling as prominently as the glass of the mirror. "Do you think that you shouldn't have told me then?"

It was quite a new thing to see Katie conversing that freely. She had always been the type to speak her mind and show that she saw things the way that she saw them. But this was a whole level of freedom that would take some time for Misty to get used to.

Nevertheless, she showed that that meeker person was still inside her from the way that for a couple of seconds, she couldn't meet her mother's gaze. Not in the reflection of the mirror and certainly not in the flesh.

To seek comfort, her fingertips found each other, and they entwined. When they merged in such a way, honesty rushed through her, and she knew that she needed to speak of exactly this.

"No…" she began by saying. Her tone did not lay down the law though and she knew that her mother was beginning to see her from a slightly different angle. Katie shook her head before she found her voice some more. "I just know I don't have the answers to any questions you might be wondering. I don't know what this means. Or where this is going. Honestly, Mom, it's equally as baffling to me." Her cheeks then became the hue of a rose that Justin had pointed out to Katie on one of their adventures as she confessed. "B-But lovely…"

Misty might have been encouraged to lean back all over again when she heard these words, but she knew in her heart that she couldn't do this. The sweet hue of her daughter's cheeks was luring her in and she couldn't stop it. She hadn't seen her that way for quite a long time. She hadn't even seen her daughter for quite a long time, and not because of her hotel room shenanigans with Justin!

She had returned from her ocean voyage on the cusp of being very much a young woman and again, not because of the way that she fell with Justin. There was something beautiful about how someone could have so much in their hands but not know quite what to do with it.

It was real. It was certainly special. She would learn. Yes, Misty knew that she was overjoyed that Katie had shared her news with her, even if it would lead to some headaches later.

However, she knew not to show too much of this. She didn't want to scare her off! Misty merely allowed the smallest of smiles to curve up both sides of her lips as she nodded her head. Then, she questioned. That was one thing she couldn't stop herself from doing.

"If he is interested…" Misty began, catching Katie slightly off guard as she reached for her make up pad yet again. But thankfully, it didn't float down to her hold and managed to stay perched between thumb and forefinger. "Will you… see him again?" she settled on these words. Thank goodness, Katie thought! "Is it something you will continue?"

Misty was left wondering if she had put her foot in it when, seemingly avoiding looking in the mirror back at her and continuing to rid herself of the remainder of her make up, Katie didn't speak a single word for quite some time.

Her porcelain features were undetectable. She was simply looking back in her own eyes as she sat as her bare self in front of the mirror and resumed herself to her freshest form. She looked different; she couldn't help but notice. It seemed that her girlish blush lingered like an aura that couldn't fade away even if she stopped physically showing this.

And her eyes had an alteration to them. They shone fuller. They shone brighter. They had been set free as her fingertips had finally touched someone who not only deserved such a loving hold but part of her had always longed to do that for him in that exact way.

Katie was a changed woman. But still her. She had been set free. By herself as much as Justin. This was evidently the case from, after she saw the way that her mother's lip fell into her own mouth at the prolonged silence that she had put forth, she didn't hesitate to find her voice all over again.

Even if she changed her tune in the long room. She wanted to say this then, so she did that very same thing.

"If he is interested." Katie at last conceded. Misty's eyelashes broke further apart from each other at the relief that she was still being spoken to. Then, she swallowed her demeanor back from escaping from her. From what she had caught a glimpse of, he could very well be accused of being interested! "I don't know where this is going… But if it has a chance to happen more…" she continued further. Then, the aura of hers that longed to blush showed that on the outside as well as being locked away just for her. "Then I would be a fool to put a stop to it. He treats me so very well, Mom…"

And it was that moment that Katie finally lured her mother's gaze in to look at her own one in the mirror and she looked at her straight back. Then, slowly but surely, she turned around in her chair to give her a smile in the flesh. She hoped that it didn't seem that she was trying to win her over about Justin because that wasn't the reason that she did any of this.

And in truth, she didn't care either way. She had seen him in new light and evidence suggested he felt the same way with her. She still couldn't believe it! But she knew that she had to embrace it. And not chase it away. It was the kind of feeling that some people waited a lifetime for.

The reason that Misty smiled back was not because her daughter had set the tone and encouraged this from her. Of course, that was a tiny fraction of the reason. But the main one was the words that she had heard. And as soon as she heard them, she couldn't help but nod her head.

She figured as much. Now it was solidified. All Misty ever wanted was for each of her children to be happy. And for them to feel love, in whatever way it was that they chose to receive it. Misty felt no differently about Katie, needless to say.

She knew that her eldest daughter who saw things the way that they were rather than how she wanted to be would be a great reader in knowing how she deserved to be treated. Justin offered her the world. In the most casual, non-suffocating, joyful and almost friendly way. And that was enough.

It was enough for Katie, so it was enough for Misty. None of them knew where it was going. None of them knew what was around the corner. How exciting! I would have felt differently had I known. But it was just for the two of them to know.

Misty knew Katie's heart was as free as a butterfly, so it had indeed chosen well. And she spoke all of this in the simplest of ways.

"Well… Good." Misty at long last replied and speaking of the length of time which had passed, Katie gave her a bit of a scrunched-up look as she gazed back at her from the mirror! Inadvertently, Misty started to mirror the long silence with a long gaze. However, she removed herself from the situation before her daughter could ask her why she couldn't take her eyes off her. "I'll go make us some tea, shall I?"

Katie's gladly crumpled piece of paper look from the mirror remained. But then she nodded her head too. So, Misty bustled off. Yet, before she did exactly this, she took one last and lingering look at her daughter as she didn't gaze back at her but gazed back at herself.

Mother could only just hold back her sigh as she looked upon daughter. She had grown all over again, hadn't she? How exciting. But how heart-breaking. She really was slipping through her fingers.

But, at least, Misty reminded herself, she still shared with her the secrets of her heart. So, for that, she could never really fly too far away from her hold.

Misty was pondering of these same thoughts as that twenty-five-year-old daughter was getting ready for her evening out. She hadn't dreamed that these thoughts of hers that she had thought over and over and across the years would come crashing back in the moments before.

The evening had started in such a carefree manner. She didn't know it would be a moment for retrospect. But it turned out this way!

Misty had felt easy-going amusement bubbling in her throat as she sat on the windowsill overlooking the beautiful and vast coast of a region which she had never visited before. For a rare occasion, it wasn't the deep blue of the ocean outside of the window and the almost white hue of the sand that was garnering her attention.

That couldn't make her laugh, could it? Only children could do that. And her own child too. Who was then not so much of a child too.

Misty watched as Layla leaned over Honey while she lulled on the bed, affection rushing through her and causing her to stick her head right close to the younger child. She was, however, left regretting her affection when for another time that day, Honey's fists clasped around Layla's golden locks!

Katie took notice and corrected the situation before Layla could properly whine or worse – throw a tantrum.

"Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear! What is Honey doing to you?" she questioned although of course, she could perfectly see what was going on. She might have been choosing her outfit for later, but she still had eyes in the back of her head. "I don't think you want to get that close to her if that is the result."

Katie and her mother shared a look of amusement but then Katie went fully back to the two children, not reprimanding either of them but carefully nudging Layla out of the way before pushing her own child, Honey's, fists back to herself in an unspoken warning not to do it again.

Even though she hadn't properly grumbled and was seemingly unbothered about the entire affair, Layla bounced up and down on the hotel room carpet and she got her point across.

"Honey was pulling my hair really hard!" she announced to Katie to which she then received a simple, motherly look from the young lady who was Honey's mother. Layla's eyes then filled with confusion at the noises that erupted from the child who had only just turned two years old. "And now she's… laughing?"

Although Misty threatened to laugh herself, she encouraged herself to merely smirk instead and remain quiet, just watching the scene with me close to her side. There were moments to get involved. And then there were moments to sit back and enjoy. And that was one of them.

Katie couldn't stop her own laughter at her daughter's manic laughter, greatly contrasting the sweetness of her name. She reached her hand down to the bed and tickled her on her tummy and this made her roar even more.

Following this, Katie turned back to Layla to give her some attention too, even holding her hand out to her for her to grab.

"She is laughing because the silly thing doesn't understand that it hurts when she pulls your hair. You can help teach her and then she will learn." Katie reassured Layla and soon enough, she felt her small, tanned hand sliding into hers. With her spare hand, she effortlessly encouraged Honey into a sitting position. "Now, come on, you two. You need to get ready for when James picks you up. You're going to have such fun with him!"

It's funny how quickly little children can switch up on you. Layla was seemingly radiating a blush through her tanned cheeks at the way that Katie had reached out especially for her hold but now that her Grandad James had been brought into the conversation, she wanted nothing more than for time to hurry up so she could go and see him!

Layla then decided that time moving on just wouldn't be enough. She knew that she needed to take initiative. She clutched at Katie's hand tighter before she would go on to let it go completely.

"Can I go and find him right now?" she asked the orange haired young lady, her feet already dancing against the floor with the hope that her wish would be granted.

I shared a look with Misty. How could she say no when it felt like yesterday that Katie herself had been that age and clamoring to see that same man as well? She simply couldn't.

Not worrying about the fact that she might rip her fishnet tights already ahead of the evening, Katie went down on her knees to give Layla a kiss on the forehead as well as to bestow a treasured wish upon her.

"Of course you can." She told her, her lips then leaving the child's forehead for them both to nuzzle noses. Katie caught Layla's cheek in her hand just before she sprinted off out of the hotel room door. "Make sure that you knock on the door straight opposite our one!" Katie had to call a bit louder as time went on as Layla had already headed out like a rocket. Following this, her words under her breath were just for Misty and me to hear. "Not the door next to ours. You know what Granddad Jordan is like for walking around in there with little more than a towel…"

And with that, Misty couldn't help but burst into an array of giggles and invite herself into the interaction! Katie looked up immediately and chuckled to herself although there was a part of her that wanted to grow teary too and not in a good way.

Instead, waving a haphazard hand, she plonked herself down in the chair in front of the mirror and she prepared to do her make up ahead of an evening with both Justin and Eli. More so than wanting to comment on more of her Granddad's shenanigans, she thought of other things as well.

Her cheeks threatened to be as rosy as the red lipstick that she had picked out ahead of her evening as she looked in the mirror at her reflection and the sight of her mother and I hanging by the window too.

"Can you believe that their wedding is just around the corner?" Katie began, speaking of the two guys that she was going to be sharing some fun with, most likely ending with them walking up and down the beaches of the regional island and going for a starlit swim. "I'd best make the most of this time with them. They won't be carefree bachelors for much longer."

As Katie commented, I somehow found myself giggling at this far more than any of the antics or any of the comments. She knew why and she met my gaze before laying out her make up palettes in front of her.

In truth, the two of them had acted like husbands long before they were romantically involved in any sense! But I guess it made sense that Katie wondered if she would start to see far less of them both. It had been a long time coming and they had a lot of making up to do.

"I know." Misty answered, interrupting my thoughts and leaving me wondering which part of Katie's words that she was referring to. But then, it was clear what she was getting at next when she observed the reflection of her daughter as she began cleansing her face ahead of the evening. "How do you feel about it?" she couldn't help but question. Surprising her, Katie's eyes fluttered open from momentarily being shut and she looked back at her. "I mean, you and Justin…"

A confused sort of smile washed over Katie's features. Far quicker than she might have done when she was younger, she turned around in her chair to take in the actual features of her mother rather than the ones that her mirror mistakenly portrayed.

It seemed that Katie had nothing to hide.

"…Were a very long time ago." She answered, that look lingering on her face and despite her age, possessing a quality that there was still a teenage girl in there that thought Misty was a bit foolish at times! Katie shook her head. She laughed. At least she had humor to soften it. "What do you want me to say? This was obviously going to happen. And I couldn't be more elated that the two of them found each other. And are going to declare that publicly."

I watched as Misty had briefly moved her bottom away from the windowsill in order to make a grab for Honey, pulling her onto her lap instead of fully wondering where her daughter's words could possibly lead to. But she didn't need to worry. Not really.

Misty turned her full attention back to Katie and she knew that she didn't need to search for any underlying something. It was all there on display. She hardly twisted the truth. Her body language even less so. There was nothing to conceal to the shadows. And this made Misty nod her head in a welcomed fashion, understanding the depth of the words that had been said and the reasons why Katie had chosen to see these ones.

"I know what you mean." Misty agreed, running her fingers over her granddaughter's honey hued locks and then drawing her closer to her, as if she couldn't bear to be apart from that sweet little thing. Her eyesight followed her daughter setting concealer with a sponge. "It's a long time coming. But certainly, an occasion that was destined to happen."

The orange haired woman and I's attention briefly turned when Honey hiccupped, her sweet brown eyes wandering up and searching for the face of her grandmother. It seemed that even she knew when things could not be denied.

That was shared by all not only in that moment but on that day as well. Even so, nobody could feel it quite as strongly as Katie. My own eyes wandered some more, and I watched the smile that Katie had for her reflection and nobody else as certain words washed over her.

And like a spell that needed to be spoken, she found her voice as she wiped her fingers of any make up residue. She didn't need to look at anybody else. She had found the place and found the words all on her own.

"This was always going to happen. They are exactly where they need to be." She agreed, a level of nirvana etching her words that I was taken aback to discover within her. But still, more words oozed. She had captured every drop of attention. "And everybody else is too."

Following this, although it had been a bit of a moment for herself with herself, she then broke away from the gaze of her reflection and she offered that as well as a smile to her mother instead. She didn't turn around and give her one in the flesh that time. Yet her mirror image spoke more than she ever could.

Then, when Katie's fingers reached for her own hair, Misty sat with Honey and me and she watched, and she knew that her own mind could speak more words than her mouth ever could. She would never be able to formulate the sentences that spun through her mind in the next moments.

Misty watched as her daughter began to style her hair for the evening – or perhaps she was merely just getting her hair out of her face for doing her make up. Regardless, those porcelain fingers of hers started to twist her own locks into a side plait. And this is the moment that began our story.

In hindsight, thankfully I now have the words to describe that exact moment. It was indescribable. In and of itself, it was indescribable.

Misty's daughter had grown all the way up. Of course, she would never stop growing really and she would certainly never stop transforming. But on that day, she knew that the hugest chunk of her work was complete. She had raised a daughter who not only accepted things for the way that they were rather than wishing they could be another way, but she instilled that in her too.

And she naturally encouraged it within others too. Her daughters. Justin's daughter. Justin himself. Eli. Sammy. Lucy. So many people had come together in preparation of watching the two men on what was to be the biggest day of their lives.

But funnily enough, Misty felt that nothing could ever compare to the moment that she looked upon her daughter and on that day. She had nothing but adoration for each and every one of her daughter's incarnations. Sometimes it felt that she was slipping away from her. But usually in those moments was when she would come rushing back.

With a new tale. With a new anecdote. With a new lesson. To share. I might not have been Katie's parent exactly, but I still felt like I shared her. I certainly shared her highs. Her lows. Her joys. Her despairs. I too loved each and every part of her. I was excited for what was to come. She would always pull out the rug from underneath me! From us. But in the best way.

Growing up was hard. But it was worth it. In truth, we are all winging it. But we are all exactly where we need to be. I knew that Misty and I needed to be sat behind the mirror with Honey and of course Katie too, and simply enjoying those moments. So that is where we stayed. Together. all of us.

Time would pass but feelings would not. In the end, none of us wanted to be anywhere else.

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) I thought going into this story I would enjoy the Justin and Katie inspired part most of all but I have to say that Katie at the beginning and her school hesitance was definitely a fun part to tackle! Katie is very much like I was at that age and that definitely makes me laugh :D Thanks again for reading and I will be back again next Wednesday to update this story again so see you then!

Amy signing out :)