Come Back To Me

Orange Islands Here We Come!

It was ten at night and Serena was packing her bags. She needed to check if she had everything for the last trip: clothes, toiletries, etc. The following morning her, Ash, and his kids were taking a trip over to the Orange Islands. They had been making plans the last couple of days and they eventually decided that they would go the second locale that Ash had travelled in his younger days. Serena had never been there but Ash noted that he had taken his kids there once or twice in the past. Since neither his kids nor Serena had really much of an idea of what the Orange Islands looked like (his kids more so than her), they thought that Ash would give them a look at one of the first great memories he had made as a trainer.

After checking that she had everything and putting her bags right next to the side of her bed, she sat down and wondered about this whole trip. This whole vacation was Ash doing a favor to Serena since she had hardly travelled much since she was a young girl. He felt bad for her and thought that while he was off for a couple of months, he might as well spend some of his time with her. She was his best friend (besides Pikachu) after all, and she was ecstatic that he had thought about her for this. But that was who Ash was: so considerate and thoughtful. At least he wasn't dense anymore.

When he invited her on this trip, she was surprised. She had just met up with Ash again and he was already doing her a favor. He certainly didn't have to, but he was Ash, someone who always put others before himself. She was pleased to go with Ash and his kids, and she would especially get to know his kids better. But there was one thing she wanted to do while going on this trip with Ash and his kids: It was to have some bonding time with Ash. Since she hadn't seen him in sixteen years she wanted to know all about him again. She wanted to be the next woman in his life and she wanted to start by knowing what kind of person he was now. She knew he wasn't the exact same person she travelled with so long ago so she wanted to know what parts of his personality had changed. She already knew he was more mature, less dense, and a lot smarter than the boy she knew when she was young. She really wanted to see what was different about him now. She didn't want to be his next love interest right away, that would take time. Just like everyone else, she needed to take baby steps while achieving her goal, and that was exactly how she was going to do it. Of course, there were some parts of him that hadn't changed throughout the years: His kindness, his boldness, his respectfulness, etc. Those were just a few of the things that she loved about him so much, a few reasons why she still harbored a crush on him to this day.

And then there were his kids. Tristan and Bellamy seemed like adorable little kids. The question regarding her relationship status a few days ago sure stunned Serena as she wasn't expecting a question from either of his kids like that. It raised some questions in her head. Did they still love their mother? Did they want their dad to be happy again? And then a new span of questions arose in her head. If they wanted their dad to be happy again, did that mean Ash was going downhill? Was he depressed? She couldn't make any of these her conclusions as she didn't know the exact reason why they wanted a second mother in their lives. Yes, she would love to be their mother because of them and Ash, but why, and why her? She didn't have the faintest clue. Maybe it was due to the fact that they only saw their mother on an occasional basis. Ash did say that they only saw their mother once in a while. Why so? Did Denise want nothing to do with her kids? Did she not have time due to her schedule? She more or less wanted it to be the latter as she didn't think Denise wouldn't want to be around her kids because she resented them, although she didn't know what kind of person Denise was. But from what Ash described their divorce as, she was sure that Denise wasn't a horrible woman and that she loved her kids, but probably perhaps she just didn't have enough time to visit or spend time with them. Maybe she had a job that got in the way or there was so much other stuff she did that occupied her time. She felt bad that Tristan and Bellamy's mother was hardly ever around them. It's like they don't have a mother at all, and that probably hurt them, she would love to be around them so they had a mother figure and plus be with the man of her dreams.