After Ford came to the apartment, the days seemed to pass by way too quickly.

I scanned the entire apartment from top to bottom, digging through the newly organized cabinets and drawers that Gia had cleaned out for anything that might have suggested that Spikemuth wasn't a good place for Marnie. The search to find evidence she should stay was just as unfruitful.

Gia had been acting very odd since the day Ford came, and I first really noticed it when I caught her talking with Obstagoon; actually talking, and not just yelling at him to stop getting fur all over the couch. They stopped as soon as they saw me and went back to how they usually act, with Gia calling him an "overgrown shag rug" for running through the living room. It only happened once, but I was immediately suspicious.

Of course, it only got worse as the fatal date grew closer, but I barely paid attention to the way Gia was acting. I had assumed she heard Ford and I yelling, just because it would have been pretty odd if she hadn't, seeing as she was in the same house at the time. I was just thankful she didn't tell Marnie.

She was already so stressed with the Gym Challenge and the Finals matches coming up, and I didn't want to rope another thing to worry about into her routine. Besides, it wasn't any use if the both of us were running around like Pidove with our heads cut off, so I kept it a secret.

I started taking less and less care of myself and the apartment, smoking more and talking less and less. I pulled all-nighters trying to find some sort of information to help my case; paper cups of coffee quickly piled up on my workspace. Fortunately, my Pokemon were quick with picking it up and disposing of it every few days or so.

When the day finally arrived, I woke up to the sound of a pounding fist on the door. I groaned, rolling my stiff back out of my chair and stretching, feeling the muscles crack. I had fallen asleep at my desk yet again, with an old blanket stretched across my shoulders. Probably Obstagoon's work. I chuckled when I caught him snoring on my bedspread.

Rising when I heard another rough rapping on my bedroom door, I trudged over to fling open my door where Gia was standing. "Are you going to get dressed sometime this century, or are you planning to meet that agent without a shirt?" she snipped, throwing something in my face. So she had heard about that; wonderful.

Tugging the spare tank top she threw at me off my face, I pulled it on and followed her to the living room. "He'll be here by one," Gia said bluntly, taking a blanket and folding it before tossing it over the back of the couch. "Where's Marnie?" I asked.

"Asleep," she said nonchalantly, brushing a few wisps of blonde that had escaped her loose ponytail. "Meowsie's in there to make sure she doesn't wake up." I nodded my thanks before turning to go back into the bathroom. "Piers?"

I turned at the sound of Gia's voice; not hardened with anger, but...soft. Gentle, almost. Her gaze had softened and she was nibbling slightly on her lip. "I hope," she paused, before taking a deep breath. "I hope this whole thing goes well. Really, I do. I might not be able to stand you, but...she's a good kid."

I nodded gruffly before quickly turning, not wanting her to see the pinpricks of tears coming to my eyes.

*******

Gia basically had to use brute force to get me out of the house, especially as the clock on her watch ticked closer and closer to 1:00 pm. The fridge had run out of groceries for lunch, and she thought offering some food would be good hospitality.

Plus, all our food had mysteriously disappeared overnight and we had nothing else except some powdered Tapu Cocoa and an open can of Picashews in the pantry; which, apparently, were 'unacceptable host manners', according to Gia.

So, here I was, hurriedly walking back through Spikemuth toting grocery bags in both hands, hoping to whatever power that presided over Earth was going to make the childcare agent later than I was. It was 1:14, and thanks to the overwhelming amount of groceries I had to get, it took quite a while to get up the stairs and back to the apartment.

The moment I walked through the front door, I thought I had stepped into an alternate universe. The floors were mopped and practically sparkling, the kitchen was devoid of dirty dishes, and the rugs looked vacuumed and clean. My Pokemon, all out of their dusk balls, were loitering around the place, snoozing on the floor or hovering in the corner with the shadows, turning to me with joyful cries.

There was no evidence that suggested a 22 year-old college dropout and his little sister lived here. Instead it looked rather...homey.

I shut my gaping jaw just in time to see Ford turn around and look in my direction. He was sitting on the couch--which was just as neat and tidy as the rest of the house, next to who I could only assume was Gia, who was smiling and chatting him up like he was an old family friend.

Her hair was now the color of melted chocolate that fell over her shoulders in ringlets. Her eyes were still the same piercing color of obsidian, but now, they looked less like knives and more like jewels, sparkling with mirth and laughter. Then, she made eye contact with me, and her face lit up like the sun. "Piers!"

Before I realized it, her hands were around my ribcage and squeezing me in a hug. "Here, let me grab those; they look heavy," she grabbed the grocery bags from me and carried them into the kitchen, merrily humming the tune of one of my songs. If my mind hadn't already been blown by the pristine condition of my apartment, it would have exploded at the way Gia was acting.

"I hope it isn't too much of a bother that Piers had to go get some shopping done," Gia said after a moment, emerging from the kitchen with another dazzling smile. "It's no problem at all," Ford said, maintaining a straight face with his eyebrows raised. Then, he turned to me. "Your wife is quite the entertainer, Mr. Erembour."

I choked, eyes widening. Wife? What the heck was this man playing at?! I wasn't married; I hadn't had a girlfriend in almost two years. And if I ever were to get hitched, it would never be to some temptress who wooed over half of Galar's men at a costume party.

"Aww, you're sweet," Gia giggled, looping her arm in mine. "Come on, sit; we were just going to talk with you about--"
"Mm...Piers?"

Gia paused as Marnie walked into the room, rubbing her eyes and yawning wide. She blinked a few times before her gaze landed on Ford, whose eyes were also wide with confusion before narrowing as he scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Oh, there you are!" Gia smiled before walking over to give Marnie a hug. "I thought you'd be sleeping all day, Miss Purrloin."

"Wh-who is this guy?" Marnie asked, nervously fidgeting with the cuff of her Morpeko-themed pyjamas. "Marnie, this is Ford," Gia spoke calmly, taking her little hand in hers. "He's a child care agent. He's just here to make sure we're taking good care of you."

"This must be the child in relation to the anonymous report, correct?" Ford asked, scribbling away furiously on a clipboard with his pen. "Hm?" Gia asked, standing upright and looking at the agent with a curious expression. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I was called here because someone reported a little girl living alone with her older brother."

"I'm sorry, I think you must be mistaken," Gia chuckled, gently placing her hands on Marnie's shoulders. "This is our daughter."

"What?" Ford asked in confusion. I was very ready to agree with him. Gia's weird acting and disguise had just gone from strange to scary. I wondered if all the loud music played night and day finally did something to her head.

Gia turned to me, smiled, and walked over to me, pulling me close to her. One hand brushed some loose hair away from my temple, which hid Ford's view of our faces. My heartrate grew faster, and I didn't know whether to freeze, push her away from me, or give in to her. Those black eyes locked on mine were hypnotic; paralyzing, even.

Slowly leaning in, I tried my hardest to fight the will to lean away from her approaching face. When our noses were pressed against each other, she barely murmured, "Play along, or you'll never see your sister again." Pulling away slowly, she turned back to the child care agent and flashed a casual smile.

"I was told that this little girl, Marnie, was Piers' little sister," Ford said suspiciously, eyeing Marnie and Gia as if trying to see the connection. "Oh, Piers' sister?" Gia laughed. "You're thinking of Mary. She moved out a week ago; the moment she turned 18, she already had her bags packed for Kalos."

"That still doesn't explain where this child comes from," Ford said, scribbling something down on his clipboard. "Do you really want to have that conversation in front of a thirteen year-old?" Gia laughed in response, subtly blowing off his question.

"But, answering in total honesty, she looks a lot like my mother, and I look a lot like my father. I'm just thankful she didn't end up like my in-laws," she chuckled. "Aw, but I wouldn't have her any other way!" She tickled her, and Marnie shrieked with laughter. Ford didn't smile.

"And when exactly did you have this child?" Ford asked, eying me suspiciously. "You seem quite young to be a mother."
"Oh, I was when I had this little one," Gia smiled softly, still tightly embracing Marnie. "I was sixteen, dating this handsome devil right here. He decided we should take our relationship a step further one night behind the stadium, and, well, here we are. I'm twenty-nine now."

"Impossible," Ford sniffed the air as if he could smell the lie. "You look nothing like a woman in her late twenties."
"Oh, stop being such a flatterer," Gia grinned with a wave of her hand. "I owe it all to having a young soul and rigorous skincare routines." Ford was still unconvinced.

She sighed, straightening up from where she was hugging Marnie. "I know being a teenage parent is bound to cause some...concern, for the child in question," she said, taking my sister's hand again and squeezing it.

"Yes, it is," he said coldly, scribbling on his little paper. "Which is why I'll need to ask for some identification from the both of you. Birth certificates, proper ID, etc. I might as well, seeing as my call was apparently a red herring."
"Of course," she smiled before I could protest. "Mally? Could you be a love and fetch the papers from Piers' office? You know the ones."

Malamar, who had been sitting in the corner, never tolerated nicknames or being ordered around, even in battle. But, without complaint, she quietly left and floated off to my room to grab whatever it was Gia wanted. Now I was wondering if I was the one going crazy.

"Mr. Ford, can you please tell me more about that anonymous report that was sent here?" Gia asked, smile dipping into her usual poker face.
"Certainly," he said, sifting through his papers until he came to what he wanted.

He handed an orange envelope to Gia, who sliced it open with a black nail, pulled out the contents and read the letter. It was written on very fancy parchment, sealed with a wax stamp. Great; as if I couldn't get enough, now, someone very rich and important went out of their way just to give me a hard time.

I noticed Gia's eyes widened and she gave a low whistle. "Whoever wrote this really doesn't like you, Piers," she breathed before slipping the letter back inside. Then, to Ford; "Sir, could you please care to tell me the return address of this letter?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Erembour, but it's against our policy to give out information about our anonymous senders," he said bluntly, hand extended to take back the letter. Gia wasn't happy with that answer; I could tell by the way her face tensed and eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Mr. Ford, with all due respect, I feel like we as the recipients of this letter are entitled to the right to know who sent it. After all, if we know them and they have concerns about Marnie's wellbeing, it would be more efficient and more mature of them to tell us to our faces." I snorted at Ford's taken aback face.

"Look, Miss, erm..."
"Diana," Gia lied, eyes locked on the agent's.
"Diana," Ford said, hand still outreached. "Look. I'm not an unreasonable man, and I'm sure you're very concerned about the outcome of this little....hiccup. If you want me to help you hire a lawyer, I can ask the agency to loan you some money. Now, if you could just give me back that file-"

"First of all, I am a lawyer and have been for the past five years," Gia snapped, pulling the file closer to her body. "Second, are you trying to pity us just because we don't live in a posh, fancy city like Wyndon or Hammerlocke?"
"That wasn't what I was saying-"

"Maybe not, but you sure insinuated it. Mr. Ford, we may not be living in the lap of luxury, but as far as I can see, Marnie is happy, healthy, and has a good quality of life. I'm sure that fills out all the requirements on your little checklist form you came in with. Now, if that's all you came to run your mouth about, I'll see you to the door."

"Do you really think I'll just let you slide past the rules and regulations of child safety?" Ford hissed, and Marnie recoiled away from him, slowly slipping across the floor in my direction.
"I never said we were sliding by anything," Gia replied coolly. "I responded harshly to what you said, and I'm sorry. I'm just a bit...sensitive, you could say, to comments about money, considering where we live. Malamar, do you have those papers yet?"

Instead of the beaked face of my squid-like partner, I was met with two Toxtricity--my own and Gia's, charging out of the hallway, Toxie waving papers in her hand. "Thank you," she smiled, giving each of them a pat on the head which they returned with contented gurgles.

Gia handed the papers to the agent, who sifted through them carefully. "As you can see, Mr. Ford, we have all the necessary documents and papers right here." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Meowsie--who had been missing this whole time, slink out of the hallway and hop into Marnie's arms. She shot Gia a wink and her trainer returned with a mouthed 'perfect'.

"Everything seems to be in order..." Ford mused, flipping through the papers before handing them back to Gia. "But, unfortunately, I'll need proof of ownership of the house."
"Huh?" Gia asked, confused. "Why?"
"If you can't prove ownership of this house, then I'm afraid Miss Marnie here won't be able to stay here."

Gia finally lost her patience entirely with this man and exploded. "What the hell is that for?!"
"Mrs. Erembour, please try to be patient and let me explain."
"Oh, I've been patient, and I've let you explain plenty. As far as I know, 'proof of house ownership' isn't on a standard list of GCPS protocols. I doubt you even know the standard procedure to evaluate a house!"

"Diana, if you could just calm down-"
"CALM DOWN?! Oho, that's rich coming from somebody who isn't even a licensed professional for their job."
"I beg your pardon--!"

"Don't try to deny it. I've seen the way you pretend to write stuff down and I've seen your 'checklist'; it's a crossword puzzle from last week's newspaper. You also haven't even taken the time to check rooms for unsafe objects or even asked our child if she likes living here. Plus, everybody knows nobody lodges complaints by letter; it's all done by phone calls, stored in an electronic archive so the original senders can stay anonymous and so GCPS can contact them if they ever need more information."

"You've done your research," Ford noted through gritted teeth.
"Yes, I did," Gia snarled back. "One usually should when their house is expecting a child care agent. Or, I suppose in my case, a phony who acts like he knows what he's doing."

"That's quite enough," he snarled. "I may not be a trained professional, but I know that your temper is not a good influence on Marnie. This child is coming with me." Ford grabbed my sister by the wrist, and she screeched in fear, scrambling to get away from the iron fist holding her hostage.

In an instant, Gia's hand locked around the agent's arm, skin pale from lack of sunlight contrasting sharply with his chubby, tanned wrist. "Take. Your hands. Off her," Gia said slowly, voice level but full of anger. Ford sneered, daring her with his eyes to do something. Anything. To yell. Scream. Cry. Hurt him.

That was when she turned on 'the stare', as I'd come to know it. It was the look she gave someone when she was silently willing them to drop dead. Gone were the sparkling gemstones she had on display moments before; now, there was nothing but cold, black ice locked on Ford's cobalt blue.

Ford's eyes widened after a moment of their staring contest, and yanked his arm away while clearing his throat. But, like a Liepard stalking her prey, Gia was nowhere near ready to back down. "If you're not ready to challenge me," she purred, black eyes glinting maliciously. "Then don't look me in the eye."

Ford audibly gulped, sweat beading his forehead. Even being four inches shorter than him, Gia leered over the poor agent, making him tremble. "Now I want you out of my house. Right now," she said coldly, straightening her posture. "You've caused enough problems here already. Now leave."

She didn't have to tell him twice. Scrambling to pull his things together, he gathered up his papers and clipboard, and shot one last glare at me and Marnie. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pressing her close to my side. Gia gave him one last look, and started towards him. Flinching, he gripped his clipboard harder and walked swiftly out the front door.

"What the bloody hell was--"

"Shh," she shushed me, putting a hand over my mouth when I went to ask her why she'd done that. She was peeking out the door of my apartment, watching as Ford made his way down the hall to the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, she dropped her hand off my mouth and walked off.

"Hey!" I growled, grabbing her forearm. "You didn't answer my question. What the hell didja think you were doin' when you did that?!"
"Um, a 'thank you' would be nice," she said, yanking my hand off her arm. "This is, what, the fourth time I've saved your sister from something or other?"
"I didn't need yer help," I lied through my teeth. "I had it under control."

"No, ya didn't," Marnie murmured, sitting and stroking Morpeko. "He was gonna take me away, an' you knew it. He was gonna take me far away from Spikemuth an' put me in some bloody facility for kids without parents."

"What I just can't understand is why," Gia furiously paced around the living room, Marnie, Meowsie and Morpeko watching her wear a groove in the floor with her frantic footsteps. "I mean, you haven't had this problem before, right?"

"No," I sighed, sitting and looping an arm around Marnie's shoulders. She nuzzled into my side, trembling. "Nobody ever had a reason t' bother us, an' I doubt anybody wanted t' come into Spikemuth in the first place if they could help it."

"That letter was a legitimate letter, though," Gia muttered, and I could almost see the gears turning in her head as she shrugged off her wig, revealing a tight bun of blonde hair. "It was clear that somebody sent it to you two specifically--it mentioned the 'current Spikemuth Gym Leader', which had to be Marnie, and her 'guardian'; that has to be you. And they did file a complaint about your lifestyle and how you're raising Marnie."

"Bloody tossers," I sighed, squeezing Marnie closer to me.
"This is the best conclusion I can draw up right now; someone who wanted to stay unnamed, probably for publicity reasons, paid Ford to come to the house and pretend to be a GCPS agent looking to evaluate your apartment."

"And, apparently, they didn't know we were staying here," Meowsie chimed in from where she was sitting in Marnie's lap. "Or, if they did, they didn't know we'd do something about it."

"So, it's someone in the Galar region, they're probably well known if they wanted to stay anonymous, and they probably didn't know about the Spikemuth arrangement," Gia concluded, sitting on the other side of the couch and massaging her temples. "This whole thing makes my head throb."

Now, it was my turn to get up and pace. Gia slid into my former position as I marched to and fro in front of the sofa. She whispered little nothings into Marnie's ear as I glared and muttered to myself, too angry to think clearly about the situation at hand.

"Piers," Gia stopped me suddenly, beckoning me over with a hand. Meowsie had retrieved the letter and had recreated what the seal looked like on a piece of spare paper (how, I couldn't say). I came and looked, and nearly cursed aloud at what I saw. The wax seal on the letter had been stamped with a very familiar insignia; a series of interlocking hexagons. The sign of Macro Cosmos.

"That bloody son of a-"

I was thankful when Gia clasped her hands over Marnie's ears as I went on cursing the Chairman's name to Hell and back. "But why would Rose even bother to come after Marnie?" Gia asked, removing her hands after I'd said enough cuss words to fill a dictionary and warrant me a lifetime's worth of soap. "He knows Spikemuth's already falling apart; why try and make things worse?" I snarled, anger lighting up my core in furious sparks as I remembered the night of the ball.

"I was going to go over the plans for a stadium, a few blueprints, even a couple of ideas for starting businesses. But, since you're no longer the Gym Leader, I was thinking on talking with Marnie instead-"
"I thought we'd been over this, Rose," I cut him off, shrugging his hand off me. "As long as I take care of her, I'll be makin' sure the finances are my responsibility...."

"He wants me an' Marnie outta the way so he can move Spikemuth's people somewhere else," I growled. I saw the pieces clicking together in Gia's skull, and she nodded. If Marnie had been taken away, there would be no Gym Leader in Spikemuth, and our main source of tourism would run dry. Without the minimal funds we got from the league to reward Challengers with, Rose would practically have us begging to up and move.

"We can deal with this later when we've had time to collect ourselves," Gia said, rising and ushering Marnie to my side. I silently walked her back to my room, letting her clamber onto the bed to snuggle with Obstagoon. Apparently, he could sense something was off, and he licked her face to cheer her up. When I walked back down the hallway, I froze when I saw the shirt Gia was wearing for the meeting discarded in her hands.

At first, I was shocked that she had just thrown off her shirt like that, until I noticed the black, compression tank top she had underneath it. It hugged her form pretty tightly; actually, really really tightly. It showed off the curves of her hips and just how narrow that waist was, even with those tight clothes she wore most of the time. And, oh God, the way those jeans shorts rose just a tiny bit when she bent over to pet Meowsie--

I froze, shaking my head and preventing whatever that was from going further. No. You did not. You did NOT just fantasize about the woman who absolutely hates your guts, I scolded myself. What the hell is WRONG WITH YOU?! I didn't want to admit it to myself, didn't want to believe it, but I did.

Gia was hot. Really hot. I thought about her "in that way", to put it in awkward, 12 year old terms, but I did. Even being four years younger than me, she was very mature for her age, and I could almost mistake her for being in her twenties with how she dressed and acted. You have an agreement with her, my mind argued. Four more months, and she'll be out of your hair for good.

I stopped when I saw Gia turning to me. She opened her mouth as if to say something, before shutting it and walking out the front door, tugging the shirt back on as she went.

Hey, Snowflakes! I know this chapter is WAY longer than usual, but I didn't really have a good place to cut it off. Besides, I think a cliffhanger halfway through a chapter like this might finally make my readers rebel and stop reading my stuff. That's all for now; peace out!