My Heart Belongs to You

Chapter 3: Slightly Mixed Signals

By the time Gary had left the hospital and stepped out into the streets of Anistar City; the sky outside was clear and dark. Stars twinkling brightly down while there wasn't a cloud to be seen and the air had a definite chill to it.

He shivered to that slightly in fond remembrance of the years past; he was used to the chills at night in the summer. Pallet Town wasn't exactly the warmest of places and had its share of nights that were rather colder at night. Especially since it bordered an edge of the sea that connected to Cinnabar Island.

While traveling he had experienced it in many different places. But tonight, this chill felt different and it didn't ease his anxiety like it usually would have though it had brought back memories that he wanted to remember; yet he didn't want to think about now.

Normally, he would have booked a room at some hotel by now, but whilst he wasn't feeling very social after all this; he also didn't feel like being totally alone either. He felt like staying in the pokemon center would bring him closer to Ash as well and how he had traveled over the years. So, he headed off in the direction of his next destination as his thoughts drifted.

Completely forgetting that Serena had mentioned that she and the others would also be there tonight as well.

Gary knew; he knew that he would have to call Pallet Town and videophone home in the morning. He was sure that if Brock and Misty hadn't informed them of where he stormed off to all of the sudden...his grandfather likely had suspected and or had internally known. Samuel Oak had always seemed to know how his grandson felt; especially when he reacted to something like this.

The man was always driven by his research; sometimes to the point that either he or his sister had to drag him out of the lab to rest or to take a break from his work, but he also had always tried to be sure to be there for Daisy and him while growing up.

His sister had been a very self-independent person and had never had to rely too heavily on their grandfather for much. She had never relied on their parents either, and unlike Gary; she had known them only slightly better than he had. She sometimes spoke of them, but it wasn't too often and when she did; the stories she had of them were emotionally mixed due to what she knew of them and of what their parents had been up to business-wise with their company before their untimely deaths.

Neither of them had ever met their grandmother; she had passed on from an illness before either Daisy and Gary had been born. They suspected that their grandfather had thrown himself into his work to keep the loss from consuming him.

Daisy remained in Pallet Town most of the time. She had her own small house and often aided Samuel at the Lab, but she also hadn't restricted her life to that path as a career. Gary honestly did not know what his sister really wanted to do for her career, but by now; it wasn't his business and only would care if it began to affect his path in some way.

Daisy was both his sister and sort-of like another mom to him.

Or, at least she had been like their mom to Gary until Delia Ketchum had entered the picture. He was sure that his sister breathed a sigh of relief when he had taken to the older woman and allowed her to fill the mother void instead of her. Daisy hadn't wanted him to see her as his pseudo-mother for forever; always reminding Gary that it would complicate things as he got older.

Gary smiled sadly to himself as he walked the silent road; his thoughts were all over the place, jumping from one topic to another in no seemingly ordered fashion like he normally would have been able to. He was aware that this whole situation was going to be hard on him, but he hadn't realized how badly until he had gotten here and been to see exactly how bad Ash looked.