Chapter 14: Luke, I am NOT you- Err, Never Mind...

He stood leaning against the wooden guardrail over looking the ocean, the wind off the water blowing his light brown, but graying hair into his eyes as the common sea birds fought with a spearow over a few fish that had washed up dead on the shore many meters below.

"You wanted to talk to me?" came the cautious sound of his stepdaughter's voice over the gentle crashing of the waves and the squawking of mundane gulls.

"Sorta," he responded, turning to meet her suspicious gaze with a reassuring smile, "You're mother wanted me to talk to you, actually."

Miranda nodded. Saying nothing as she stepped up beside Bob and leaned against the railing. "It's about Aunt Laurna's offer. Isn't it?" her voice seemed distant, her stormy gray eyes focused on something far out to sea.

Bob nodded as he turned back to the ocean. "You know, Vivian misses you a lot," he said, tossing a loose stone at the hovering flock of angry birds as their smaller cousin seemed to laugh at them from below.

"I am quite well aware of that, Robert," said Miranda dully, turning slightly to face him before continuing, "And the answer's the same one that I give every year."

"Miri, look-" began Bob, holding out his hand to touch her shoulder.

"Don't!" she yelled angrily, roughly knocking his hand away and glaring at her stepfather, "Don't touch me, and don't you dare and try to tell me what I should do with my life! And don't you EVER dare call me that again! You're not-! You're not..."

"Your Father," Bob finished, his hands dropping limply to his sides, "I know, Miranda. I've never tried to replace Nicholas, not with Vivian, and not with you. And I've never expected you to call me dad, either. Now then, I'm not telling you this as a parent, I'm asking you this as a friend. For your mother's sake."

Miranda threw her hands down onto the wooden railing, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles immediately turned white. "I, I have my reasons for not staying," she managed, pushing down her misplaced anger, "You know that, and so does Mother. But I do what I can for her. I show up every year for the Festival, and I keep in touch whenever I can. It's just that... That this place... It..."

"Everything here reminds you of him," said Bob with a nod, watching as the triumphant spearow flew off with the remains of a fish in each of his talons, the gulls diving and squabbling amongst each other to snatch what remained, "And now you have Misty. Someone you love, and someone you want to stay with."

Miranda nodded. "Yes," she replied quietly, unable to deny either truth as tears welled up in her eyes, "Even though mom's tried to change things for me, I can still hear his voice. I can still feel his kiss upon my forehead wishing me goodnight when I go to sleep in my old bed. And I can see his refection in Umi's eyes."

His stepdaughter pushed her glasses up as she rubbed the tears away. "And as for Misty," the courier continued, "I just can't bear the thought of abandoning her. Especially when it was me who put this idea in her head. She wants to challenge the League, you know. Misty wants to prove that she's just as good, if not better than that selfish, oblivious moron she used to believe actually might love her."