Aya pushed her food absentmindedly around the plate with her fork, not really feeling hungry. There were too many things on her mind. It couldn't be true. It wasn't true! There had to be another reason why her father was in none of the photographs taken before the wedding.

Ash noticed his daughter's unrest. "Aya, you okay?"

She looked up at him, displaying a spurious grin, and ate a forkful of her dinner. "Yeah, dad." She brought her attention back to her plate and the matter at hand. There must be a good explanation for this, but she was too afraid to just come out and ask. Maybe if she approached the subject slowly. Taking a deep breath, she began, "Dad?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I was looking at some of my photos, but there wasn't any of you in the hospital when I was born. Where were you?" she asked, desperately trying to hide the tears that were threatening.

At this, her parent's exchanged a panicked glace, and at the same time blurted out, "I was in the Orange Islands/Your dad was in Johto." Realising their mistakes, Ash tried to correct the situation. "Well, you see, I was...er...travelling between the Orange Islands and Johto, doing a bit of training. It was while I was away that your mum went into labour and you were born. I wasn't able to make it home for a few days."

"Oh," she replied, unconvinced. Yes, that sounded like a plausible reason, but it didn't explain why he wasn't in the other photographs either. Also, their reaction confused her. Why did they respond so strangely if they were telling the truth? She wanted to ask them about the other photographs, but her fear held her back, too scared of what could potentially be revealed.

Aya began to feel the sweet embrace of sleep drift away from her. She could feel something pushing at her, and a noise echoing in her ear, calling her name. She slowly opened her eyes to see Kai standing next to her bed, trying to wake her.

"Aya, Aya."

"What...what is it Kai?" she asked, groggily. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Mama and dadda are shouting."

"What?" She listened harder and could hear two elevated voices. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she looked up at her clock. Seventeen minutes past two? Her parents were normally asleep by that time. She pulled herself off her bed and stepped into the hallway, holding Kai's hand. Walking to the top of the stairs, descending a few, she sat upon a step, looking down into the living room to see her parent's arguing. Her mother sat upon the sofa, in tears, and wore an almost frightened expression.

"Ash, she deserves to know the truth. And she's getting older. It's going to be really difficult to keep it from her, especially with her leaving in a few months."

"I don't want her to know, Misty!" her father nearly pleaded.

"She's our daughter," she shouted back. "We shouldn't be keeping lies from her! She should know what I did to her and to you."

Those words struck fear into Aya's heart. What lies? she questioned herself. What are they hiding from me? What did she do to us? Then her groggy mind remembered the events of the previous day; what Chris had told her, her parent's talking, the missing photographs. No, I know she wouldn't do something like that! her mind deined, chiding herself for even thinking that.

"No!"

"Ash?!"

"No, Misty!   And that is final!   I don't want to break her heart, or yours.   What she doesn't know can't hurt her!" Her father only seemed to be getting angrier with every word he uttered. She had seen them fight like this a few times, and although she knew that all married couples went through the same, that fact never lessened the pain she suffered.

"She will eventually find out, and then where will we be. She almost found out from that boy."

Again, more fear rose within Aya.   That boy? Chris.

Her father paced for a moment, his hands dragging through his longish hair, the action reflecting his distress. "No," she heard him whisper. Then, with a harsher tone he shouted, "No. No way, Misty! Yes, you left me when you found out you were pregnant, and that was a mistake, but I am not about to drag our family through this shit again!"

Aya gasped. She replayed her father's words in her head, round and round again like a broken record, hoping that somehow she had heard wrong. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't deny the truth. All the evidence was there. She had seen it with her own eyes, and now her father's admission had just proven her suspicious correct, the suspicions she had denied so fevourently. Her mother had walked out on her father before she was even born.

She began to feel trembles echo through her body. "No," she whispered, backing away up the stairs. At her utterance, Ash and Misty turned to her, their faces betraying their shock at realising that their daughter had just heard their words.

Misty stood and began to walk towards the stairs. "Aya? I..." she started, but before she could continue, Aya ran up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her. "Oh, god," Misty whispered.

Ash took her in his arms, forgetting his anger, letting her cry into his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Misty. I'm so sorry. I'm so damn stupid."

Kai still stood on the stairs, looking confusedly towards his parents. "Mama, why are you cryin'? What's 'rong?" he asked, too young to understand the situation.

Ash lifted Misty's head with a finger upon her chin, kissing her lips. "You put Kai to bed and I'll try to talk to Aya."

Misty nodded and climbed the stairs, wiping the tears from her face. "Nothing's wrong, sweetie," she told Kai, faking a smile. She lifted him up gently and kissed his forehead. "Come on, you should be in bed."

Ash followed them, walking to Aya's door. "Honey?" He said tenderly, scared of the possible response. There was no answer. "Honey? Could we talk?"

"No!" he heard her yell, her voice noticeably raw from tears.

"Please, Aya? We need to talk about this."

"No!" he heard again. "I don't want to talk to you or her!" she shouted bitterly.

Ash placed his head against the door.   What was he going to do? In the space of a day their life had gone from perfect to disastrous. He didn't want Aya to know the truth.   He wanted to prevent her and Misty from being hurt, and also to save himself from this agony. But now the secret was out and he had to deal with the situation he had dreaded over the past eight years.

He left Aya's door and walked into his own bedroom. Misty lay on their bed, crying into her pillow. He sat next to her, pulling her into his arms once more, feeling his own tears welling up. "Misty, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for her to find out."

Misty pulled away slightly from him, able to calm her tears. "She should know the truth, and...in a way, I'm glad she found out." Her resolve, however, broke quickly. "She now knows the type of person her mother truly is." She fell back into her husband's arms, feeling those old feelings of self-dread and hate assault her once again. "I'm such a horrible person. I hate myself so much."

Ash's heart sunk. She had done this to herself so much, punished herself for so long. It pained him terribly to see the only woman he had ever loved do this to herself. "Misty, please don't."

"But it's true, Ash. I have put our whole family through so much hell." She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked into his eyes with her swollen, raw orbs. "How can you love me, after everything I've done? I'm a terrible wife and a bad mother."

"Misty. Don't you dare say stuff like that?" he ordered, both anger and compassion in his tone.

But she did not listen to his warning. "It's the truth, Ash. What kind of person would take her own child away from it's father, and hurt those she loves so much? It doesn't matter how afraid I was. It doesn't excuse what I did. I don't deserve you, Aya or Kai. I don't deserve anything good."

The despair in her eyes was too much for him. The tears he had been holding back began to flow. He pulled her as close as possible, and whispered in her ear, "You do deserve happiness. Yes, you did something that was wrong, but I have forgiven you for it because I love you so much. And I know Aya is hurting now, but she loves you too and she will find it in her heart to forgive you. Everything will be okay, my love."

"I wish I could believe that."

He lay down with her, pulling her to lie upon his chest, and after a few moments, the emotional drama took its toll upon them, and they fell into a restless slumber.

Aya sat upon her bed, trembling with sobs.

How...? Why...? How could this be true?

She looked over towards her desk, focusing upon the exercise book placed upon its surface. Standing, she made her way over to it, leafing her way through the first few pages until she came to the last record.

My idol is my mother, Misty Williams .

She felt her anger grow reading her own words. How could she have been so wrong?

In a thoughtless moment, she grabbed the book, ripping the lined pages from the staple that bond them, then tearing them in a dozen pieces. She let them fall onto the carpet, before dropping to her knees.