How I Met Your Mother. A Pearlshipping Fic

for Paul

All of Paul's thought processes immediately shut down at that moment. His mouth went dry as desert. His hand gripped the book so tight, his knuckles turned white. His eyes locked on to the image of the man in question. He never really thought about the origins of his name or why his folks named him 'Paul' in the first place. But here it was, the picture of the man he was a named after.

"now I remember!" exclaimed Nina "I've seen him before, at aunt Maylene's."

Paul's memory came flooding back. "yeah, you're right, sis. I saw his pic in her house a lot but I never knew who he was. I always meant to ask her who he was but she would always look at me with this weird look in her eye and just smiled so sadly."

"was he her boyfriend, mommy?"

"no, dear. Paul was Maylene's husband."

"aunt Maylene was married?"

"yep." Dawn thumbed through the album until she found the pictured she wanted: it was wedding photo with Maylene in a beautiful white bridal gown flanked by a much longer looking Dawn in a pink bridesmaid outfit. Next to the bride was her groom Paul, decked out in a sleek black tux and joining him was Ash in an equally handsome suit of his own. Their parents both had bright smiles on their faces while Maylene had a small, content grin on hers. Paul was stoic and somewhat dower in comparison to everyone else in the photo but there was a shadow of a facial gesture in him, like the camera caught him in-between emotions. Maybe it was the sudden connection he found with him but the young boy could tell that the man was happy with Maylene "that was taken just after their wedding."

"daddy, you look so handsome. I don't think I've ever seen you wear a suit," said little Nina

"well, when someone asks you to be their best man, you have to dress accordingly," her father said.

"were you the maid of honor, mommy?"

Dawn said, "yes, dear. Maylene's one of my best friends and I was honored to be there for her big day."

"what was he like, dad?" asked Ash's son.

"Hmmmmmm how to say this..." the older Ketchum thought out-loud, "...Paul was...intense. Yeah, that's how I'd put it. He was perhaps the strongest rival I ever had."

"really?"

"yes. He was so...tactical and precise, like a machine. He planned out every move, every attack to the letter. He was three steps ahead and never a step behind. But he was also intense, intimidating, with a cold hard stare that could freeze you in your tracks. He always kept me on my toes and I'd like to think I did the same for him."

"he sounds like a cool trainer."

"but he was a hard person to know," spoke Dawn, "hard to be friends with, at least at first. He was distant and stern. Not cruel or anything like that. Just...not very personable. We both knew him for a while before we could really call him a friend. He never said it but I think he thought of us as friends."

"so where is he? Did he and aunt Maylene get divorced or something?" the couple went silent at their daughter's question. It was the part of the conversation that they were dreading.

"they didn't get a divorce, sweetie," started Ash, "he's...not any more."

"we know that, dad," said Paul, "but where is he? Does he live somewhere else?"

"son...Paul's dead."

A chill goes up the spines of the Ketchum siblings. That was something they did not expect to hear about this man. Paul had hoped a tiny bit that he would meet this man whom his parents had such respect for but now, that hope was gone. He looked between his folks. Their faces mirrored each in subdued pain, lost longing, and distance friendship.