Chapter 10: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

The kitchen seemed full of life as they entered, with Bob hurriedly making last minute adjustments to the enormous lasagna he had resting on the island countertop, and Frank telling some story or other about his travels as Vivian looked on in vague amusement, and a second, shorter woman looked up at him, hanging on the cop's every word. All the while the wondrous smell of Bob's still congealing lasagna filled the air with it s pleasantly distracting quality, and causing Frank's growlithe Bow, sitting politely at the threshold to the kitchen, to look on in expectant dismay, whining pitifully every so often.

"Hey, Vivian said 'no'," Frank told her as Miranda and Misty walked up behind the sad looking canine, "Oh! Miri!"

"Hi, Uncle," said the courier, her tone a little nervous as her long dark hair fell damply across her face when she bent down to scratch Bow behind the ears, "Glad to see you made it."

"As promised," her mother chuckled in a tone of mild amazement.

"Hey, have I ever broken a promise... To you?" Frank inquired, quickly adding the last as literally everyone, even Bow, shot him a look.

"Not that I'm aware of," Miranda replied, carefully stepping over Bow as she went back to staring hopefully at her trainer and looking pitiful.

"Maybe it'd be better just to 'return' her," offered Misty stepping around the growlithe with a dismayed look that made the little canine wag her tail sadly.

"I left her ball back at Laurna's," replied Frank with a shrug, his stomach growling as Bob hefted the lasagna with a bit of a grunt, "Oh, by they way, I believe introductions are in order?"

The woman who sat next to him smiled in what started as a polite smile, but became an embarrassed laugh as Frank did something under the table. "Hi, I- Oh!" she exclaimed, smacking him playfully on the arm before extending her small hand to Misty, "I'm Professor Laurna, Miri's Aunt, but you can just call me Laurna. Everyone else does."

"It's good to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you," Misty replied sincerely, taking the older woman's hand and marveling at how the two sisters seemed alike in some ways and different in others. Where as they both had the same once long dark hair, now streaked through the silvery gray of more than four decades, and the same mysterious magenta coloured eyes, Laurna's were softer, less world wary, almost as though she'd recently woken up for a century's long sleep. And the large lensed glasses she wore made Laurna seem somehow more friendly, or at least easier to talk to than her sister.

The Professor was also visibly shorter than her sibling by at least half a foot, with a handshake that wasn't as firm or confident, but Laurna had an aura of friendliness that her sister Vivian lacked. Still, the two shared the same quality of seemingly being able to stare into a person's soul to discover their secrets, a quality that seemed somehow less unnerving in Laurna.

The woman nodded with a bit of a shy smile. "Nothing good I hope?" she inquired as Bob carefully set down his creation and Bow immediately leapt into the air and yelped when she caught a glimpse of it.

"I said 'NO'!" warned Vivian, who'd taken her customary position at the far end of the circular table, facing the door and fixing the fluffy growlithe with a displeased look.

Bow looked the woman straight in the eye, a sudden glint of determination shining in her own dark brown eyes as she gritted her sharp teeth. 'I didn't want to do this, lady, ' she muttered inwardly, 'but it looks like you leave me NO choice!'

The little growlithe let out a long, pitiful whine, just long enough to get everyone's attention. Once all eyes had fallen upon her, Bow activated an ability she'd known since birth, a technique that released a cloud of pheromones into the air, subtly altering the emotions of those in the room, and greatly enhancing her own ability to look mind-bendingly cute to a new level that was only attainable through the supernatural might of the awakened.

'Feel the power of my "Charm Attack"!' thought Bow as she slowly lowered her tail, drooping her furrier than normal ears before looking up at the assembled humans with huge brown eyes that looked for all the world to be filled with the deepest sorrow as Bow tried her best to pout, filling the room with an almost visible field of enhanced adorableness.

Everyone but Vivian glanced at the little growlithe, and immediately felt their hearts break. With a collective "Aww..." they all held their hands out to the pitiful creature in the doorway, somehow unable to hold any thought in their minds that didn't involve helping out Bow in anyway they could.

"Don't make me say it again," came Vivian's harsh, warning tone, snapping everyone back into reality as the smell of the food in front of them suddenly overpowered the effect of the subliminal emotional attack.

Bow's deep brown eyes hardened as she glowered at the woman, and Vivian raised a single eyebrow. For a moment the two stared each other down, Bow gritting her teeth and silently snarling in her annoyance, and Vivian maintaining her look of icy calm, unmoved by either Bow's cuteness, or intimidation abilities.

Finally, though, Bow tossed her head into the air with the assembled bits of her pride. 'Hm!' she thought to herself as she walked away muttering bitterly in a series of low growls. 'You've won this round, lady. But I'll be back in time for dessert!"

"Don't worry," called Frank as Bow's tail disappeared from view with one last defiant wave, "I'll be sure to save you some!"

"You're spoiling her you know," commented Vivian as Bob reached across the table and picked up Misty's plate.

"Yes, that's very true," said Frank with a wary sigh as he rested his head upon Laurna's shoulder, "but your sister's worth it."

Everyone but Vivian laughed, and as he shoveled out a square piece of the lasagna onto the plate he glanced at Misty with an amused smile. "You get served once in this house," he explained as his guest accepted the now heavily laden plate with both hands, "And then your family."

Bob accentuated his point by serving himself, but no one else as Frank suddenly tried to look innocent, causing Laurna to giggle like a woman half her age as Vivian shook her head disapprovingly.

"Um, thanks. I think," Misty replied, suddenly lost in the enormity of the meal placed before her. Although its innumerable layers, stuffed with more cheese, vegetables and ground up meat than seemed possible, only towered an impressive four inches off her plate, Misty had to wonder where she'd ever put it all.

"Don't worry," assured Miranda, taking her turn at the spatula Bob had provided for serving, "We don't expect you to eat it all."

"Yeah, don't," commented Laurna wryly, avoiding her sister's suddenly warning glance, "around her ewe don't force people to eat everything they're given. Heck, you can even speak without being spoken to in THIS household!"

"Well actually, there was one thing I was sorta wondering," Misty replied giving Vivian a quick glance as she smacked Bob lightly on the arm and Laurna suddenly jumped as he kicked her lightly under the table.

"Ask away!" the woman assured with a laugh, pretending not to have noticed the subtle message her sister had sent her, as she wasted no time devouring her meal.

"It's about the Gym I heard you were opening," continued Misty, waiting a moment for the lasagna to cool before trying it.

"Did open," corrected Frank with his mouth full, smiling in Laurna's direction.

"I'll be accepting challengers officially as of November 1st," the small woman explained, pushing her glasses farther up her nose in the same way Miranda often did, making them shimmer all the same, "But if your looking to get a jump on the competition, I'm game."

Misty tried some of the lasagna as Laurna spoke, and almost felt bad that she had to swallow it, it was so good. "Really?" she asked rhetorically, "that'd be terrific. But um, isn't it kinda unusual for a poke'prof to be a Gym Leader as well?"

Laurna shot a conspirative look at her niece, who'd been quietly eating and now found herself trying not to choke. "Actually, no," she explained in an amused tone as a small smile crept across Vivian's face, "There's also Erika of Celadon. Did you know that she's a world-renowned para-horticulturalist? Isn't that right, Miri dear?"

Miranda glanced at her aunt with eyes wide with sudden embarrassment as she found herself covering her mouth and knocking her chest a few times to ensure she didn't choke. "Yes, Auntie, that's correct," she said simply, reaching for the tea pot and desperately looking for a change in topic, "but you were saying that you'd accept an earlier challenger?"

"Oh yes," her aunt assured with a vigorous nod, seemingly satisfied with Miranda's reaction, "As early as tomorrow if you'd like. Tonight's no good what with me having to leave early so I can teach the little one's a thing or two about the town, but I have most of the day tomorrow free. Until about seven, anyway... Say, are you two going to be there?"

"For your lecture? Oh yes, definitely!" assured Misty, suddenly surprised to see how much of Bob's lasagna she'd managed to put away without noticing.

"It's not a lecture," corrected Laurna, waggling her finger cautioningly, "It's more like a performance! But early in the afternoon would be perfect! Oh, but I'll need your help with a few things then, Miri."

"Sure, not a problem," the courier replied with interest, "I'm sure I can round up Wraith by then if you need him."

Laurna shook her head and laughed. "Well, that too, I suppose," she explained in a tone more befitting her age, "I meant in an official capacity. I want you to be my second. Pulling double duty isn't as easy as it looks, Miri. I could use some help around my place..."

Laurna's words trailed off Miranda dropped her fork with a suddenly loud clatter that shattered the friendly atmosphere and made the kitchen seem somehow less inviting.

"Is that what it is was all about?" she asked, her tone bordering on accusing as Miranda's stormy gray eyes became just as hard and uncompromising as her mother's, "Just another way to try to get me to stay here in Lavender? Look, I told you, and I told Mother, I LIKE being a courier. I'm not ready to just sit back and watch the world go by, I have to be out there doing something. I'm not ready to spend the rest of my life behind a desk. I'm not cut out to be Admin. Especially not now."

Laurna nodded as Frank seemed to be the only person still eating. "I understand," she said simply, unable to meet Miranda's gaze, "But I'd still like you to be there... Frank's going to be busy with all the tourists, and there's still some arrangements that need to be made with the Guardian, so I could use an extra hand if I'm going to be doing the Gym thing tomorrow."

"Not a problem," said Miranda simply, her tone not betraying the fact that her pulse was racing, her heart feeling heavy in her chest.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking," inquired Misty, trying to carefully defuse the situation, hoping the question would dispel the tension in the room, "But, 'The Guardian'?"

Laurna bowed her head and smiled, her cheeks reddening at the thought. "Yes," she said quietly as Frank gave her a quizzical look and Vivian pretended to be completely enthralled by the fact that the silverware they were using actually was made of silver, "He's the gengar who watches over the ghosts in the Tower. He's been there since it was built, and he... He helped me out with a problem a while back."

"You still haven't told us what happened to you that night," Frank chided teasingly, causing Laurna to purse her lips and try to look innocent. A task she was well suited to.

"The night you actually spent in the Tower, right?" came Misty's inevitable deduction to which Laurna nodded.

"You should keep this one, Miri," said Laurna mysteriously to her niece, "She's a smart one!"

"Well, you are famous for that incident," added Vivian, leaning back in her chair, and empty plat before her, "And so's Viper."

Laurna nodded, answering the question before it came. "My ekans died when I was young," she explained, her tone becoming sad, her gaze distant, "just before we came to Lavender Town. I'm sure Miri's mentioned it to you, but he's the reason I went into the Tower. I needed to find him. And I did. The Guardian even helped him to recover his memories of his former life."

"But she still won't give us the details," replied Frank in amusement, giving his fianc≠e a sideways glance, as she blushed again.

"I guess some secrets are just worth keeping," Miranda added with a wary shrug as Bob's lasagna felt heavy in her stomach.

"Yes," agreed her stepfather, "Secrets like who's going to carry me out of here!"

There was a collective laugh as he leaned back in his seat and made a show of holding his stomach. "It's not a good lasagna unless no one can get up from the table afterwards," his wife agreed, smiling with a touch of irony as she backed away from the table, her electric wheelchair giving her at least one small advantage over everyone else.

"Was that a compliment, or not?" inquired Bob with half a smile as he warily pushed himself away from the table.

"Well, this is!" replied Frank; suddenly belching so loudly he almost rattled the dishes.

Bob took the partial bow his full stomach would allow him and smiled graciously. "Thank you, thank you all!" he replied dramatically, pretending to cry as he held up the spatula like an award, "I'm so unworthy of your kudos, and only one thing could make this moment more complete."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Frank inquired, staggering to his feet in time to pull out Laurna's chair for her.

"If someone else would do the dishes?" said Bob hopefully, clasping his hands together and giving the others a pleading look.

"Done," sighed Miranda, giving him a wary smile as her stepfather beamed and Frank feigned a heart attack, "It's the least I can do after such an amazing meal."

"You think so?"

"Yes, absolutely!" replied both Misty and Miranda at the same time causing them both to glance at each other with worried yet amused expressions.

"Oh, that reminds me," commented Vivian, catching Misty's eye as Laurna and Frank walked arm and arm for the room and Bob put the rest of the lasagna in the fridge, "Seeing as you two have the morning free, what do you say we have our little 'chat' then."

Misty felt Miranda's hand give hers a reassuring squeeze under the table and nodded. "Sure," she replied, managing to keep the nervousness from her voice, "No problem.

Vivian nodded as Bob walked up behind her, his hands rubbing her shoulders lightly. "She wants me to talk to you at the same time, eh," he added rhetorically to Miranda as something of a friendly warning, and immediately feeling guilty for the sense of dread that flashed through his stepdaughter's eyes.

"No problem," Miranda replied, hearing Laurna call her goodbye from down the hall.