Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. The plan is for me to upload two Eli related stories in a row and then one of a different matter entirely until a good chunk of his story is told. So this time round is something a little new - but also a little old and of things I've thought about for a very long time. This chapter focuses on Misty's parents, Jordan and Lynne, when they are teenagers and the beginning of their relationship. It was a really fun one for me to read through because I wrote it at the beginning of the year and that feels like forever ago! I hope you enjoy :3

Ages:

Lynne: 18

Jordan: 17

Bo: 40

Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!

I laughed alongside the parents of Misty as they laughed uproariously in between scrubbing the decks of The Valentine andas the heavy rain storm that we were having continued to pour on them, I shook the droplets out of my eyes and found myself glancing at Lynne in particular. In her own eyes as well as her mouth, I saw beaming happiness. I saw radiant contentment. I saw the signals and sensed her sensations of feeling right at home.

She was right at home with Jordan. She had always felt that way. Well, nearly always! Then and there I saw a ripple of something different that was not the rain cascading into her eyes. I saw memories. I saw and sensed one of their first voyages. And I learnt of a truly treasured tale.

It had been pouring rain that entire morning in Johto as well. The rain just did not seem to stop and the high winds matched and accompanied the lashing rain. Being on the outskirts of Azalea Town and feeling the roaring breath of the Whirl Islands made it a regular occurrence but that day it just seemed to be never ending. And it put the town in quite the particular mood.

The grey skies lead to a lot of frowns on a lot of faces. The tumultuous seas made the fish and the water type Pokémon feel more desire to flop onto the rocks for a second chance rather than to come up against the whipping waves. The rain continued pouring down minute after minute, hour after hour. Yet there were still people in sight. There were people who still braced the storm to get on with whatever needed to do that day. Because they had to. And that was definitely the case for all of the people in the café right along the dockyard front.

The howling winds and the relentless rain clouds did not deter people from heading to that rickety café for whatever it was that they wanted. A cup of tea and a morning paper. A full and warming breakfast. Even a pint or two.

The person who was in charge of the lease on that café and who was in charge of business that day was placing down some of those pints or two in front of two school aged children whom he was certain was too young to drink when yet another person made it obvious that they wanted to carry on with life as usual. Or so it was initially assumed.

As the prematurely greying dark violet haired male let out a sigh and turned away from the beverage drinking school children with a frown on his face as he could not muster up the energy to scold them properly or even kick them out – he badly needed business – the rickety door swung open and yet another person entered the scene.

But that person was different. Though like how many of the other visitors to the café or that dockyard town had been when they entered, she had obviously been drenched by the storm and was dripping wet. Yet she still had a uniqueness about her. It could not be labelled at first and a finger couldn't exactly be put on it.

Despite the fact that the orange haired young lady was visibly displeased with getting so soaking wet and she had a bit of a down turned mouth as the ramshackle door hardly closed behind her, she still had far more of positivity about her as she entered the café. Fiddling with the door still as she continued to attempt to close it, it became obvious that she did not have an umbrella. It was amazing how well she'd faired against the hurricane!

But even though she was struggling with the door and the school uniformed young lady was starting to mutter under her breath as she tried to wedge her shoe against the door to slam it behind her for good, she was not the one to break the silence properly at first. It was the man running the café. It was the man with the somewhat dark violet hair that was a very similar shade to a couple of people that I knew – by name and through story or otherwise.

Bo had managed to hold his tongue and not give the two school boys ordering a beverage that was far too mature for them a stern telling off even though he had persistently tried to get them to tell him their age. And because he had not snapped or scolded or even sighed too much – he had a bit of extra irritability inside him that he needed to get out.

He turned to another person that was working there, it wasn't exactly clear. But he was lingering against the counter and seemingly absentmindedly staring into the glass windows where all of the tasty treats resided.

Albeit that I mentioned that it was the older male running that café who broke the silence first, he didn't exactly say many words. However, like it usually was and how it was almost expected from that man, it was how he went about it was telling enough.

Bo clicked his fingers before he slapped his own thigh rather loudly. He addressed the younger male who was leaning against the counter – the younger male who was around the same age of the young lady who had entered. The person on the receiving end didn't have a chance to look up before the older male quite obviously gestured to him.

"Step to." He commanded with a wave of his hand that time and the muscular and floppy haired teenage boy who was leaning against the counter finally looked up. His green orbs dilated as they took in the noises and the gestures and the commands. And then his face grew uneven with a look of un-surprise. His sunken eyes went back to their default mode of not moving all that much. The yellow haired young man merely nodded his head and did what he was told.

There was to be no more momentary leisure time for him leaning his aching and hard-working body against the counter area of the café and there was definitely no more time for him to wonder if he'd ever have the nerve to take just one of the pastries from under his father's nose. The yellow haired and green orbed male did indeed "step to". With a sigh, he disappeared towards the back of his family owned café and that was that.

There and then, it was another person to begin speaking and needless to say, it was the orange haired female who had finally got the door shut behind her! Shaking her head to free herself of the pesky droplets and taking the time to smooth down her locks also, she then made her way over to the person in charge. Well, at first she tried to make her way to someone who was presumably another customer. But she could not exactly be blamed. Everyone else that was in there other than the pair that was related looked as though they were straight out of a story-book.

The man whom the orange haired school uniform wearing young lady half-suspected to be the manager had a large and white, thick sailors beard and a cap to match. In addition to this, the foam of the beer that he had been having at eleven o'clock in the morning made his facial hair seem all the more fuller.

Similarly to than seaman-like fellow, there were a couple of other men most likely around the same age as he but they were engaging in more suitable activities. Two of them had a morning cup of tea and a morning paper and just one of them had a full breakfast right in front of them that they were quickly polishing off. And then of course were the school children who had been given an alcoholic drink and were evidently very pleased about it! They were easily far younger than the orange haired female.

Despite her positive and easy-going energy that was bordering on innocent too, she knew that those two were definitely not in charge. She soon enough figured that it was a safe bet that it was the person who had gruffly ordered the younger person about so following squeezing the wetness out of her hair once more, she approached him. She fiddled with the hem of her plaid school skirt as she did so. She showed off a bright smile automatically. That definitely was unusual to be seen in that town and on that day.

"Excuse me." She began in a delicate sort of voice and this paired with the way that she smoothed down the folds of her skirts implied that she was a well-educated person. The orange haired young lady resisted curtsying yet continued smiling as the person known as Bo turned around to face her, wiping his hands on the worn down apron he was wearing. "I was wondering if you could help me."

The greying dark violet haired man known as Bo studied the young lady. As well as having little to no contact with young women around that age due to raising only sons at that point, the man with an inaccessible face also was rather taken aback from the way that she was continuing to smile at him so. Not that he exactly showed it! He didn't show it much apart from the frown that was lingering between his eyes and the fact that his eyebrows were starting to raise.

What happened next indicated his out of depth demeanour all the more so. As soon as he processed her words, he instantly pointed to the menu on one of the walls of the café. That gesture was almost like one of his default ones.

"Everything is up there. If it's not on the menu then there's a high chance that we don't have it. Terribly sorry." He uttered but his tones didn't exactly speak of much apology. However, they were not exactly rude. His voice just sounded like how his face looked. Weary and like he was drained from the repetitiveness of family life and being the main provider. He continued, hardly taking in the orange haired female's eyes widening innocently and her mouth falling. "You can only use the toilets if you buy something. And we do have a phone. It's not to the highest standard though."

There and then, Bo made it clear that though he had a somewhat weary and robotic face, there was some amount of life behind his eyes and intuition to match. He was observant. He heard her well-educated accent and recognised the plaid colouring on her school skirt to be one of the best places of education in the region.

Unlike the man in front of her, the orange haired young school lady did not have a default setting and neither her actions nor her words were robotic. Her eyes continued to widen with the realisation that they had gotten off on the wrong food and though she stood up straighter, intending to correct the situation, a lady-like blush took over her cheeks. And she took a couple of moments before finding her voice.

"No sir…" she tried again and Bo merely raised one eyebrow and looked down at her. He tried everything in his power not to glance at the clock as he waited for her to answer. But he wasn't exactly running out of patience with her. He just simply often did that. He often did that when he was working an extra job. He looked at the clock half hoping hours to have passed but of course it was mere minutes. The greying dark violet haired male looked back at the younger female as she expressed herself once more with a polite shake of her head. "I was wondering if you possibly knew when the ship services that are next door would be starting up again. I've got myself into a bit of a situation."

The orange haired female's voice rose in pitch as she said a couple of these words and it would have been like her extroverted and friendly self to indulge the older man – or indeed anyone – on what exactly had gone on. But even she could tell that he was not in the mood for her – or anyone – so she decided not to ramble. Her next words only proved this.

"I won't spare you the details. But I was wondering if you happened to know? I know it's not your business but it really would help me out a lot." The orange haired young lady concluded rather breathlessly and that time she couldn't resist curtseying, getting a few puddles more of water that she carried with her onto the mismatched planks of wood that were the floor below.

And for a rare occasion – surprising me as I saw this tale being recounted to me – the man who was running the café that day indulged the younger female in a bit of information he usually would have brushed past. It could have been classed as small talk for him. Very, very small talk!

"It is my business." He uttered to the orange haired female in a gruff voice but I was beginning to learn it as his usual tones and she was as well. She nodded her head despite the vagueness. Bo ran a hand through his own curtain like greying locks and as if the greasy apron was irking him in comparison to the female's spotless rain coat and school uniform underneath, he tossed it aside to where the younger male had been leaning against moments before. He continued himself, glancing between her and where he had discarded part of his uniform. "It should be up and running if the kid has half a mind to get his butt in gear. The number is on the menu also. You can ring it and find out. I can't be doing everything for everyone."

The orange haired female blushed a second time since she had entered that café on the outskirts of Azalea town and that time it was down to her believing that Bo's passive aggressive words were for her.

She hurriedly nodded her head and thanked him and then managed to shake her mortified feelings off long enough to see where he was pointing all over again. She was being directed to a phone hanging on the wall and after seemingly being put in her place, she was happy to head over to that instead.

But that was until she saw just how grubby it was. She should have expected based on the ramshackle and crumbling appearance of the whole building and Bo's work uniform as well. And even though it had caused her heart to sink with the horror of irritating someone who had been quite kind to her, she didn't exactly describe herself as a pushover. And she was certainly used to higher standards than that.

The greying dark violet haired man only had enough time to properly turn to where he had left his grime-ridden apron rather than properly take a hold of it all over again when, once again, the orange haired young lady spoke to him. She didn't bother with her "excuse me" that time. As she picked up just the phone gingerly in both of her hands, she was well and truly past one hundred percent politeness!

"Do you think that you could dial the number for me?" she asked in a fair enough way but even the school boys in between giggling and feeding one and other their foamy beverages clocked onto the fact that she probably shouldn't have added her next words. She scrunched her nose up. "I don't want to get my fingers dirty as well as wet."

Bo's expression didn't change. Surprising me, Bo's expression didn't change. He exhaled out of his nostrils like she was beginning to get on his nerves but even so he thought about her request for a couple of seconds. And soon enough, he relented and nodded his head, a darker grey streak of hair flopping over his face. He remembered that the customer was always right and proceeded to lean in, in between glancing at the menu and back to the keypad, typing in the correct number.

Lynne let out a quiet, grateful exhalation of breath when the older male complied with her request and took a side-step away from him to show him that she was thankful. He didn't catch on in between glancing at the keypad and the number that he had written down himself some time ago. The orange haired young lady didn't realise that there was someone else glancing at her and in her direction from the back part of the café.

Yet before she could take notice of that or I could ponder it further while experiencing it all, Bo concluded typing the numbers onto the phone and held the phone out to the younger female. He held it out to her in a way that questioned sarcastically if she needed him to hold it for her as well! She didn't catch on. I hadn't realised that one of my loved ones relatives had been so quick in a dry-humoured sort of way.

Bo went back to his business when the orange haired young female was seemingly occupied with sorting things out for herself yet as he finally went back behind the counter, using his apron to brush off some cake crumbs from the countertops, as well as flicking his wrists to clean, he had a flicking sort of action towards the door leading to the back. He was wordlessly commanding the person who had slipped out there to get cracking all over again.

The orange haired school uniform wearing female didn't think anything of it when she heard a distant phone ringing in another part of the café as well and simply just focused on clearing her throat as the sound of line her end being answered filled her ear as she gingerly held the phone an inch or so away from her head. She didn't hesitate to get cracking when a monosyllabic response from the other end filled her ears, glancing over at the clock herself.

"Hello, my name is Lynne – Lynne Williams – and I'm calling from the very small and slanted building on the dock-front outside Azalea Town." The orange haired young lady named Lynne began and tactfully she substituted "slanted" for another word. Despite the fact that she had managed to not describe it as "falling apart" or "grubby" or "uninhabitable" the way that she took a turn to glance around it as she waited for a response from the person on the other side made it evident that she was beginning to think those words fitted it best more and more. When she heard no words in return – only breathing – she explained herself further. "My school was due on a school trip today but I accidentally wandered off when we were meant to be getting on the boat so naturally, I am not there with the rest of my class."

And even though the younger version of Lynne had spared Bo all of the details of what had gone wrong for her that morning, she did not do the name thing for the stranger on the other end! She filled them in with extra details and expressed an interest in a possibility that she could be taken there – taken to Cianwood City to visit where she needed to go to complete her school project.

The person on the other end hadn't said much at all in response up until that point. As well as not being able to get a word in edgewise, they figured from Lynne's voice as well as many other things that she wasn't their usual type of client. Lynne wasn't his usual type of client.

And in spite of the fact that the person on the other end of the phone was risking a far more formidable gesture from the older person in the café with what he did and said next, he just didn't care.

The person on the other end of the phone remained in hiding for a little longer as they finally uttered in response. I knew their tone was unmoving and blunt.

"I'm sorry but I don't like to ferry around judgemental, posh, school uniformed, upper-class redheads." The person in charge of the ship servicing business replied without a single ounce of regret in his voice and needless to say, the orange haired female's eyes widened when she heard this. She swallowed and her pale cheeks flushed with the hurt that she was being called such unkind things and then her face flashed with the horror that the person on the other end seemingly knew exactly what she looked like.

"Wait, how do you-?" Lynne finally gripped the phone properly in her hand and to her ear as she questioned in response and then out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone half-entering the room. In fact, this person made themselves visible from lingering in the back room and though they remained hooked up to the phone on their side, they shot the orange haired female a look so she caught on. He shot the orange haired female a look so she caught on. Needless to say it was the younger version of Jordan.

Instantly, though she hadn't exactly given him much attention as soon as she entered the café and she could hardly see past her rain-soaked eyes, Lynne recognised the yellow haired male to be the person that Bo had ordered about. The orange haired female went back to gingerly clutching the phone, her lips and her chin puckering with continuous hurt before her feminine jaw had a chance to jut out in defiance.

Then yet again because it was obviously his duty to keep the younger male in his place – it was his duty to keep his middle son in his place – the greying dark violet haired male stepped between the frozen glares that was happening between the two late teenagers and took command. He used his greyer than white apron to rap Jordan on the knuckles and then he shot him a firm look.

"Step to." He began to order him all over and the yellow haired young man's lips parted as if he was about to let out a sigh but no sound came out. He definitely didn't want to but he looked at the face of his father. It goes without saying that Bo continued, gesturing with his head so much that his neck clicked for all to hear. "You've got business, boy. It will stop you wasting time around here with me and it will stop your mother from finding out that that's all you've been doing today."

The greying dark purple haired male that was known as Bo paused before adding something that was most telling.

"And it will stop her from having both of our guts for garters, too." The older male finished to his seventeen year old son and then he finally stepped aside, taking his crumb and grease stained apron with him all over again.

Regardless of the fact that from the younger version of Lynne's expression it was obvious that she was still wounded from the unkind words that Jordan had muttered to her on the phone, it became equally obvious to her that both of those two male's had been running that café on that particular day. And even though she did believe it to need a bit of a sprucing up, that was hardly doing nothing with their time. So they didn't deserve a telling off in any way shape or from.

The orange haired young lady couldn't stop herself from speaking up, smoothing her school uniform skirt underneath her raincoat in a more adamant sort of way. She addressed the yellow haired male first.

"Jordan…" she began and she said his name to get his attention as well as put it in her mind that he had been rather unnecessary with her for good. She breathed out his name under her lips a second time as that name was a familiar one to her. That person was a familiar one, too. They had crossed paths more than once. She shook her head but not in a dismissive way. She was effortlessly curious. "We are not strangers, are we? So I don't see why you needed to say those words to me."

And proving that going against the Jordan that I knew and his certainty that he was not like his father one bit, the yellow haired teenage boy completely ignored the slightly older female and for once turned back to his father instead! His expression hardly moved. His expression hardly changed. His nostrils simply just opened a little wider as he sighed and he spoke. He boldly insisted.

"We don't need business from her. We don't need business from that kind of person." Jordan told Bo and an adamant blush started to creep up his skin and decorate a large portion of his muscular neck. It's understandable that in that moment and upon hearing those words, the orange haired young lady that was Lynne's eyes widened all the more with hurt and her own nostrils quivered.

Bo heard his son's words. Bo definitely heard his son's words. Though at first he acted like he didn't and his shoulders just slumped, after a couple of moments, he knew that he had to take the effort to correct his son and the situation all over. He turned back towards him. He held a commanding hand out to him, his apron still being held. But that time he didn't use it to rap him across the knuckles. He allowed his words to do the talking.

"We don't turn a young lady away when she asks for assistance, Jordan." The greying dark violet haired male responded in a level tone and perhaps it was because of the way that the yellow haired male was actually addressed by his name and a whack wasn't used to prove a point either, the younger version of Jordan actually responded to this pretty well.

Though he did continue to scowl when it came to the school uniform wearing slightly older female and his defences grew higher every time that she looked at him, he went along with his father's words and with his wishes and knew better than to turn down business. Even if it was from the judgemental and down-looking folk.

Letting out a loud sigh to prove his unwillingness but compliance just one last time, Jordan cracked on with opening the door for Lynne and leading the way and he took her next door to his family's other known business. The ship repair warehouse and additional transport service. And following that also, after being clued in to where Lynne needed to be taken to exactly and how quick she wanted to get there, the yellow haired male revealed to her the ship that he had been working on for quite a long time. It was indeed The Valentine. He uttered just one more thing to the orange haired young lady before they boarded it and their voyage could begin.

"She's nowhere complete in her repairs yet but I've been curious for a while to see how she will fair taking a journey alongside the sea. I guess there's no time like the present." The yellow haired male spoke with a shrug in equal measures to The Valentine herself as well as Lynne and then after that, the pair's time was taken up with actually boarding the vessel and getting into their respective roles.

As Lynne sat down on the decking and clung onto the rails and watched as Jordan prepared to make a seemingly maiden voyage, that time she actually tried to stop her eyes from widening as she looked around. That ship didn't seem as rickety as the family owned café and it seemed to have been bestowed upon far more love and care.

But even so, Jordan's words that he had spoken to her and the fact that he was reluctant to actually allow her to be his client made her rather nervous over what was to come! And although she didn't verbally express this and actually tried to hide it as she retreated further into her yellow school uniform coat, the signal-missing person that was Jordan surprisingly noticed all of this. He raised quite the firm eyebrow from reeling in the anchor.

"There's no need for you to look so scared, you know. If I was that unbothered about making the money from ferrying you around on this day then I would have tossed you overboard a good few minutes ago." Jordan uttered to her and he squinted as he came up against the lashing rain and the continuous winds and naturally, these words did not reassure Lynne at all!

She tried to hide further in her rain coat. That was down to Jordan's words as well as the wind and the rain. But then she couldn't stop herself from retorting, squinting herself as her face began to quickly get soaked. She could hardly see the yellow haired voyager in Johto's continuous storm.

"And there's no need for you to treat me like this either." Lynne retorted to the slightly younger teenage boy and not that she knew it, because she was being direct with him, Jordan found himself relenting just a little bit. Though he rolled his eyes, his expression stopped being so stubborn and he made sure that the sails were intact. The orange haired young lady gripped her hands further onto the rails as they came even nearer to setting sail. She furrowed her brow too. "We're not strangers. We've bumped into each other a good couple of times now when you've been working on the docks and I've been walking home and you've never been like this. Why the sudden change?"

It could easily be argued that at that point in his life, the yellow haired young man that was Jordan was a man of few words. He was a man that hardly stood up for himself at all. But the truth was that Lynne was exactly the same way. Without letting on or expressing that out-rightly, the orange haired female was exactly the same way. But she found herself quite able to speak her mind when it came to the yellow haired male. And he felt the same way when it came to her. Most of the time.

He kept quiet for a couple of moments and then he finally replied as he yanked on the sails properly and started to use the Johto storms that they were having to his advantage and they set sail speedily. Lynne bumped against the rails in surprise! But first and foremost, she was most interested in hearing Jordan's answer. His nose scrunched up.

"You look down on things that are run down. Everything about me and my family is that way and it makes me wonder why you want any of our help at all. It makes me wonder why somebody like yourself would want to have anything to do with something so broken." Jordan expressed with a shrug of his muscular shoulders and then he went back to what he was doing. He went back to what he was doing and standing in the midst of the storm and managing to sail alongside it.

Meanwhile (not that the yellow haired male really saw from his position at the ship's wheel) Lynne's eyes flickered somewhat at the unexpected sincerity of the reply that she had heard. Then without thinking, Jordan added more words. It wasn't unusual for him to articulate himself more when he was doing something that he loved.

"I forgot to ask my father what sort of payment would be needed before we left anyway. So I guess this first voyage of yours is free. No doubt do you have the money but you probably already paid it to your school so I guess I'll be a gentleman once again and forget about it."

Lynne remained silent as she held onto the rails and pondered these words perhaps more than the first and then for a rare occasion, the orange haired young lady's wordlessness caused Jordan to think that he had offended her. And he felt kind of bad about it!

He cleared his throat, secretly glancing at her in between focusing ahead on his voyage also. However before he could feel bad any longer, it was the orange haired young female's turn to speak up. She shook her head, shaking the rain and mistiness from her eyes also.

"Well perhaps I'll buy you one of the desserts from your family's café at the end of the day and we'll call it square that way." the orange haired young lady suggested in a delicate sort of way and though she didn't smile, she plucked her fingers against her school skirt with sincerity and she hoped that Jordan would catch on from his position at the wheel.

Jordan did indeed catch on but he caught on to something else. He caught on to be what he believed to be pity from the upper-class and well-educated young lady and his invisible walls slammed up all over again. He tried to reply matter-of-factly. But he ended up muttering curtly.

"That won't be necessary." The yellow haired male responded as if he hadn't been daydreaming in the direction of all the desserts and pastries and cupcakes earlier on in the day and Lynne had indeed taken notice of it. She had taken notice of his guard going up all over again and she silently rolled her eyes in response. But she didn't dwell on it. And not that Jordan knew but she didn't judge it either.

Her easy-going nature and friendliness was because she felt it better to her heart to give people the benefit of the doubt and to let people in. But she understood his reluctance in a strange way too. She couldn't exactly relate but she understood that that was right for him. And something else that she would soon to learn about him was that he had quite a good amount of secrets for a person of that age. But it would of course be a very long time until he indulged her in them all.

The Johto Region storm raged on and it became increasingly harder for Jordan to see and steer the ship. At one point and during one moment he almost hid a cluster of rocks that he had not seen and it caused him to have to be quick to swerve and take action and turn The Valentine in the other way. Lynne held onto the railings tight and she exclaimed out loud, her knuckles going white as she held onto the vessel. But then someone took hold of her interest somehow more than being concerned about her safety!

From the decks below and from some of the few belongings that Jordan actually had, one of them came tumbling towards Lynne as he was forced to make that sharp turn and it made its way into her lap. The orange haired young lady winced as the jagged corner of the object tore quite the noticeable hole in her yellow raincoat but then she noticed what had actually been launched at her and she focused on that more. She picked it up. Lynne picked up the photo frame in her hands and looked right at it.

It was a dark silver and pearl decorated photo frame that looked quite exquisite in contrast to everything else that seemingly belonged to Jordan and his family. But that was not the thing that caught her eye most of all. Needless to say it was the photo inside the frame that caused her to tilt her head, rubbing the water from her eyes so she could get a better look.

She focused her orbs and she quietened her breath as she took notice of the fact that the girl in the photograph – the seemingly three year old or so girl in the photograph – looked an awful lot like the yellow haired male that was Jordan. They shared those same yellow locks. They had matching sea green orbs as well in sunken yet gentle soft-hearted sockets. They had the same smiles too. Not that Lynne had seen Jordan's one a lot at that point. But she had seen the beginnings of it when he had seen her walking along the dockyard towards her on their meetings before.

The orange haired young lady held a hand to her heart and there and then she couldn't help but wonder if she would see that smile for good when she looked up and asked him about the photograph. But she got entirely a different reaction.

You see, she hadn't realised that Jordan had actually moved away from the ship's wheel and she was being stood over. She looked up and gasped quietly when it was too late. The yellow haired male snatched the photo frame away from her and put it back under the trap door where it had come from but he still did not do any of these things in a malicious or mean way.

Jordan used to have family beyond the ones that he was left with and he was protective of their memory – far more protective than he was of anybody else in the world. And far more protective than he was of his secrets. Yet in a gentler way.

In spite of the fact that the orange haired young lady could sense that Jordan was not exactly mad – more so just taking action – Lynne still swallowed anyway. She held a continuous hand to her heart. She followed his movements back towards the ship's wheel. She was taken by surprise when he boomed towards her. He couldn't stop himself from saying.

"For someone who looks down on the raggedy-ness on all that surrounds me, you sure do want to stick your nose into it all, don't you?" Jordan uttered and it was these words above any of them that made Lynne finally stand up. And it made her ball her fists together. She was close to experiencing an emotion that she hardly ever came up against. The yellow haired male didn't seem to care. He tried to continue. "You know-"

But it was there and then that a horrible ripping noise sounded and it wasn't Lynne tearing off her raincoat in frustration! It was one of the sails that had come apart and torn at the seams and because Jordan was evidently skilled in identifying that, he looked up straight away. He showed that he could be as changeable as the sea by the way that he actually dropped his previous point. He addressed Lynne's widening eyes with horror with a wave of his hand.

"Oh boy. I hope that you're pretty good at sailing a ship because I'm going to need to head up there and patch it up." Jordan began to speak as if it was the easiest thing in the world to just suddenly be left in charge of a ship as large and beloved as The Valentine. He showed that in some cases he was always prepared for anything by the way that he reached into his pockets and held onto the supplies that he needed to do the job. Lynne's eyes continued widening in horror. Before Jordan moved his way over to the mast, he found himself copying his dad's words. "Step to."

Lynne did a rare thing there and then. Lynne did a very rare thing indeed. Her eyes looking like they were going to pop out of her sockets, she grabbed hold of Jordan's arms and she exclaimed frantically.

"Step to? Step to?!" she repeated with anxious urgency in her voice and though Jordan couldn't help but notice all of the emotion and terror in her tones, he simply just nodded his head and prepared to climb up the mast anyway. Lynne tried to grab hold of him all over again, looping his hand around the braces that she was wearing. She was the one to stay firm. "Oh no I really don't think I can! I can't-"

"You can." The yellow haired male interjected and for perhaps the first time that day, he turned around to face the slightly older female and he looked right at her. His sea green orbs met her ocean blue ones. He didn't smile. But that inclination of a lip quirking upwards became possible. Lynne's heart found itself pounding with the words that escaped his lips next. "I trust you."

The orange haired young lady's heart rate did indeed speed up when she heard these words and Jordan left her for good to climb up the mast. And naturally her quickening of breathing was not out of fear and fear of being abandoned. It was the surprise of her being trusted. By no other than the yellow haired male. After the initial shock it felt really good. She knew that she couldn't let him down. To show that she meant business she did actually rip her raincoat off that time and she went over to the wheel.

She took a hold of it like she imagined to have needed to do to drive a car. Not that her mother allowed her! She gripped hold of it as confidently as she could and she moved it left and right. The vessel did indeed swing with it. Her stomach lurched in surprise but she tried to ignore that. She tried to focus. But it was hard. It was so very hard. The rain was lashing and splashing into her eyes. The high winds were forcing her all over. She couldn't do it. She felt that she couldn't do it. And this was horrible after the prestigious words that Jordan had bestowed upon her. She called out helplessly.

"I can't, I really can't!" she called out against to what she believed to be empty wind because she could not see the yellow haired male above her at that point even though he was hanging upside down while holding onto the mast and trying to fix it with one of his other hands. Lynne squeezed her eyes tightly shut against the wind and rain and whispered. "I don't judge you at all… You're more held together than I am right now…"

The orange haired young lady whispered and then following letting these words slipped out, she took a chance by holding onto the ship's wheel with one hand and she wiped the wetness from her eyes with the other. It was the same point then that Jordan suddenly surprised her and it was the first time of many that he was going to do that from that moment on.

While the young lady that was Lynne wiped her eyes, Jordan suddenly leapt down from the mast upside down with one leap of faith and landed on his feet! He landed right in front of her. The orange haired female couldn't stop herself from gasping out loud and very loudly. Jordan addressed her and only her.

"Of course I'm more held together than you are right now! I'm actually holding on!" he boomed to her against the sound of thunder that clapped for the first time today and before Lynne could dart and hide and hide herself behind him, he took hold of her hand and he put it on The Valentine's wheel. He put it there and then he put his hands there. He was intending for them to steer it together without thinking about it at all.

The orange haired young lady exhaled shakily as she realised that he had heard his words and then all she could focus on was her heart rate speeding up at Jordan's large and hard-working yet soft hands cupping over her ones as he directed the ship away from another cluster of rocks and avoided Whirl Islands also.

He didn't say anything as he steered. He didn't say anything as he focused. He didn't say anything as he held her while working with her. He didn't blush. That would come later!

For the time being, only words came. And words came from the orange haired young lady that was Lynne. After thunder boomed over their heads a couple more times yet she felt safer and somehow more respected than she had during her whole life, she shook her head. Like the yellow haired male often did, she had words enter her mind so she spoke them. Lynne repeated words that she had spoken earlier on in the day.

"Why the sudden change?" she wondered aloud and she referred to the way that not only did Jordan trust her but he allowed her to be part of something that was imperfect and took and needed work and his guard wasn't as high up before as it was either.

The yellow haired young man merely just shrugged his muscular shoulders as Lynne shuffled nearer and waited for an answer and then – like the trait they now shared – he spoke of the words that popped into his head. He spoke an honest answer and felt able to do so in the first time in his life also.

"I want to teach you that even broken things are worth the time as well." He uttered to her and as he focused on the clouds that were finally beginning to break in the sky and that blush finally broke on his cheeks – it definitely did so when Lynne's head found its way absentmindedly to rest upon his shoulder in relief!

I didn't know what Jordan was thinking there and then. I only knew what I was thinking looking back. The yellow haired male that was of course Misty's father did indeed teach Lynne that even broken things were worth it. And contrary to what you may believe – Jordan was not one of the things that were broken.

Like the house that he lived in when he resided in Johto and like The Valentine whom he bestowed upon so much love and time and care, he too was a mismatched patched up thing of so many layers. But in the most wonderful way. He was made up of all kinds of things. He was made up of so many parts. He was made up of so many heartaches. He was made up of so many memories. He was made up of so many happy times too.

Lynne started to learn this that day and when they were only seventeen. And she learned this more and more during their lives together. All of them!

The End.

There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, you can tell that Jordan and Lynne don't entirely get on sometimes in the beginnings of them getting to know one and other! They come from vastly different backgrounds, yet I think they experience similar feelings of loneliness and out of place in their homes. Naturally, Jordan is extremely guarded from his upbringing and the loss of his little sister - and he comes across snappy and rude. He is actually a very gentle person. The younger version of Lynne will go on to learn that. And she will also bring that side out of Jordan's stern father, Bo, also :3 Thanks again for reading and I will be back next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then!

AmyBieberKetchum signing out :)