Laying fully clothed on her bed, Delia looked at the man, her lover of the past few months. She leaned over and kissed his lips.

He hummed, smiling against her lips. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Delia said, reaching up to touch his cheek. "You should come around more often." She suggested, resting her forehead against his.

A laugh left him. "Do you think your boy would be okay with us?"

"Giovanni.." Delia raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Ash would love you, if he met you." She said sincerely.

Giovanni sighed, pulling away. "I.. I don't know." He sat up from the bed. "Maybe he will, maybe he won't."

He had told her everything, all within days of their first meeting months ago. His disbanding organization, his diving back into being a full time gym leader, and his desire for love.

And likewise she had told him everything as well. Studying under Professor Oak when she was a teenager, owning a restaurant, sometime later she had Ash and raised him by herself, and how she was looking for love now too.

That last one was how this all started. Both of them looking for love, and they found it in each other.

"You've changed, Giovanni." Delia sat up, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know you before but-"

"Exactly, you didn't know who I was before. You'd never forgive me, or yourself, if you knew who I was." Giovanni looked at her, his grey eyes filled with remorse and pain.

Delia gripped his shoulder. "But I know you now, Giovanni. You're a different person, a better person, that who you used to be." She smiled, leaning over and kissing his lips.

Giovanni pulled back. "Thanks Delia." He put a hand on hers. "I.. I have something I wanted to ask you."

Delia tilted her head slightly in curiousity. "What is it?"

"I was wondering.. D- do you want us to officially be together?" He was nervous and fumbling over his words because of it.

Delia took a moment to think. Officially being together with Giovanni, that would be something new. Something that they could experience together.

"Yes, I'd like that." Delia said, smiling at him.

Several months later, the two were sitting in Delia's kitchen, talking over a few cups of coffee.

"So they actually did that then?" She asked, picking up a berry filled muffin from the basket Giovanni's elderly mother sent along with him.

Giovanni nodded. "Yeah, they did. And so now the gym is closed for renovations."

The 'they' that the two were referring to was his most recent gym challenge. The vicious trainer won, his Electrode using Self Destuct near a faulty gas main that one of his Pokemon - a Scyther- had made sure to damage earlier in the fight.

The gym had exploded and then caught on fire. After getting the unconscious referee out of the burning building, Giovanni was sporting a bandaged burn on his hand as well as a few bruises. He wouldn't have given the trainer the badge if he had a choice, but sadly a win was a win.

So now the referee was in the hospital with a concussion and everyone who worked at the gym were all temporarily unemployed but still receiving compensation while the building was being repaired and rebuilt- all at the Pokemon league's expense.

Delia nodded in understanding. "Well, your more than welcome to stay here until the gym is fixed."

A smile crossed Giovanni's face as his Persian, whose side was bandaged after the fire, butted his head against Delia for attention. "I think I will, and that's the first time Persian has demanded attention from anyone other than me."

Delia was all too happy to give it to the cat, gently petting it's head. "I don't mind.

"Do you know when Ash is coming home?" Giovanni asked. "I think I'd like to meet him now."

Delia looked over at him again. "I don't know. He usually comes home long enough to spend a few days with his friends before he's off again."

The front door suddenly opened. "Hey mom! I'm home!"

"Pipipi!"

Delia smiled. "There they are." She stood up, Persian standing off to the side, and walked over to him. "Come on, you'll do great." She assured him, holding his hand.

"I know." Giovanni said, standing up.

"I'm coming dear." Delia called, leading Giovanni and Persian to the front room where they could already hear Ash talking excitedly to Mr. Mime about his most recent adventure.