Previously...

"Drew and I are resting in a room at the Pokecenter. We can meet you outside."

"Okay, I'll be there soon!" She said. Once she hung up the DexNav, she turned to Drew shyly.

"I'm sorry—"

"There's nothing to apologize for. Come on, let's go wait for your mom."

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"May! Oh, I'm so happy you're safe!" Caroline exclaimed, throwing her arms around May and squeezing her tightly. May relaxed in the comfortable familiar warmth of her mother's embrace, a few tears leaking from her eyes when she realized just how much she had missed her mom.

"She didn't hurt you did she?"

"No, I'm okay," May reassured her.

"Good," Caroline sighed in relief. "Now tell me, what happened?" May looked over at Drew in slight panic. They didn't really talk about setting their story straight before this. She didn't know if Drew would be comfortable with potentially exposing that he's a runaway.

"Um, well," she started, lost on what to say.

"May and I had an argument that night. She stormed off to cool down," Drew started to explain.

"That's when the Rocket Grunts kidnapped me. They knocked me out," May continued.

"When I heard her scream, I went running towards it and followed the grunts to the souvenir shop. When they pulled her through the door, I got knocked out too. I woke up in my bedroom in Hoenn days later." Caroline gasped.

"How is that possible?" She said in disbelief, no doubt wondering how he ended up back home. Drew hesitated for a moment. His eyes met her gaze, fear dancing behind them. Her heart ached for him, wanting to comfort him, to grab a hold of his hand and never let go. But being in public held her back. They hadn't talked about if they wanted to be open about their relationship, or if they wanted to keep it private. She for one, wanted to keep it private. At least for a little while. It would surely make headlines of the coordinator world, and she just wasn't ready for that yet. She watched as Drew steeled himself to answer.

"I'm a runaway," he said quietly. Caroline's eyes widened. "My parents didn't approve of me going on a Pokemon adventure, so I left. They sent people after me to forcibly take me home. They saw a chance and took it." Caroline let her mouth fall open like a fish, struggling to find anything to say.

"I negotiated with my parents to let me go and I came straight back here and told the police where Team Rocket's base was. They organized a raid and rescued May."

"I see. I know it's not my place, but as a mother, I'm sure your parents were very worried about you all this time. It was hard enough sending May and Max on an adventure, but if either of them were to run away and I didn't know where they were, I don't know what I'd do. I can imagine how I'd feel though, worried and scared. I'm sure your parents must feel that way too."

"Mom," May said in a warning tone. It really wasn't her business, and besides, not everyone's parents felt the same way she did about her kids.

"No, it's okay," Drew said, giving May a reassuring but sad smile. He turned back towards her mother. "I'm sure they were worried about me in their own way."

May wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that. Drew never really talked about his family, aside from the fact they sent people to forcibly bring him home. She knew they were wealthy. Wealthy enough that they could hire people to bring their son home, and perhaps prominent enough that their son running away to become a coordinator would tarnish their reputation. That would make sense for why they didn't get the police involved and kept his disappearance hush hush. She never saw any missing persons flyers around that looked anything at all like Drew.

"Mom?" A sudden question popped into May's head. "How come you never told me that Aunt Christina was a member of Team Rocket?" Caroline sighed.

"I wanted to shelter you from just how messy my side of the family is. You were still young when we moved from Johto, and I didn't think you were ready for the reason why." She started.

"My sister had it hard. As the older sibling, she was the trial run. Mom was much harder on her than me. She also struggled a lot with things that came easy to me. Mom used that against her, and it led Christina to become jealous of me, and resenting me."

"It was a self fulfilling prophecy. Mom treated her like a criminal, and so she became one. When she joined Team Rocket and Mom found out, she wrote Christina out of the will and the money that would be split between the two of us instead became all mine."

"So that's why she was upset about the will money and demanding it from you," May said.

"Yes. She threatened me before, and that's why we moved away after Mom died. That's why I wasn't comfortable with you coming to Johto, because I was scared she would find out and do something to you to get to me. And I was right. But it's all okay now. She's a high ranking member— they are going to lock her away on multiple charges. You're safe now, so I won't have to worry about you as much. I still will, of course, that's a mother's duty."

"I guess no family is free from its problems, no matter how much you love your kid or how good of a parent you are. The only difference is whether or not the problems lie within the immediate family, or the extended family. It's a curious and delicate thing," Drew said thoughtfully, an introspective expression on his face.

"You're right about that." Caroline said.

Not for the first time that day, May's PokeNav interrupted the moment. They were requested to report to the police station to explain their perspective of events. Complying, they made their way to the station and gave their story to the officers. It was late by the time they were able to leave, and all May wanted was to sink into the mattress of her Pokemon Center bed and never get up again.

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A/N

I'm sorry I'm late again! When I set the schedule for weekly updates, I didn't realize that when I came home for winter break I'd be working on Fridays and Saturdays. Normally I would have been able to finish it on time, but I was exhausted yesterday and ended up staying up far too late doom scrolling in revenge for feeling like I did nothing I wanted to do that day.

I would have had the chapter done this morning, but my friend invited me to her house to help make homemade ravioli which is her families holiday tradition! I left straight from there to go to work and was also exhausted when I got off but I knew I had to finish a chapter for you guys, especially because we are getting pretty close to the end of the story!

Also, next week's update will come much sooner because my family is planning to be out of town Thursday through Saturday, (if my great aunt who is in the hospital right now doesn't die), so I won't want to write and post a chapter in the hotel with my family around. I'll try to have the next chapter done by the 25th! Until next time!

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