In Darkness There is Light

As the young woman sighs and goes into her room with the bag of supplies for tomorrow's shift, she's aware of Fang's body gently nestled against her own. As she rolls over, Olivia smiles at her companion, the dark dog looking up at her with a light wag of his tail.

"You're such a handsome boy, Fang. You'll protect me, won't you? If he ever comes back, you'll stop him right?" Olivia whispers, her eyes darkening as she thinks about her stepfather's torment of her. Her companion lets out a high whine and nuzzles closer into his trainer's chest. Olivia wraps her arms around her companion and the two fall asleep.

Early the next morning a loud yipping wakes Olivia and Fang from their sleep, the human female's arms still wrapped around Fang's body in a tight hug. As She rises, she looks to the floor where Farley is barking loudly to get her attention. As Olivia slips into a fluffy robe and slippers, she can hear knocking coming from her door. As she peers through the hole, she can see that a young boy is standing outside her door, holding a limp, badly injured Poochyena in his arms. Olivia quickly unbolts the door and rushes out, ignoring the fact that she's dressed in her pajamas and a robe. As she knocks on Nurse Joy's door, the young nurse rushes out to help, similarly dressed.

"Please, you gotta help Akia! We were walking and this huge pack of Houndour ran up and started attacking her!" The boy is in hysterics, tears flowing down his cheeks as he holds the Poochyena close, unwilling to let her go until the Chansey arrive with a stretcher. Nurse Joy takes the Poochyena and places her on the stretcher, urging the Chansey to hurry while she takes the boy's trainer information.

"So, her name is Akia? Pretty name. What's your name?" Nurse Joy begins, trying to calm the boy as she takes his information. Olivia sighs, watching the Chansey run towards the back room and remembering Fang when she first brought him in.

"How long have you had her?" Nurse Joy asks, noticing the worried expression on the boy's face as he looks over at Olivia.

"My name is Devin Connor. Akia's been my starter and my companion for almost three years now. I put an Everstone in her collar so she won't evolve until we're both ready.  Please, Nurse Joy, you gotta save her, you just gotta!" Devin begins calmly, but his voice breaks and he starts crying again. Olivia grabs a box of tissues from the desk and hands it to him, placing a hand on his shoulder in a calming gesture.

"Well, Devin, according to this chart, your Poochyena will be fine. She'll likely have a few scars from the fight, but she'll be perfectly able to fight and train again in no time. I'll have the Chansey clean her up for you and then you can take her home." Nurse Joy replies with a smile. Devin looks up at her sheepishly.

"Uh, I don't have any money to pay you." He whispers, so softly that neither Nurse Joy nor Olivia hear him at first.

"That's alright, Your trainer's insurance covers routine care such as this. Your license also mandates that I ask you if you are going to continue travel immediately after your Pokémon is released to you." Nurse Joy quickly replies, looking over the boy for any sign of injury.

"Huh?" He replies, having not been paying attention to the question.

"I just asked you if you'd like a room or if you'd rather head out while it's still light. Your trainer's insurance allows you to stay a maximum of twelve consecutive nights in each town, if you spend the day and night here and leave tomorrow, you won't be charged anything, and it will give Akia time to rest and recover." Nurse Joy replies with a chuckle. Devin laughs nervously before nodding and handing Nurse Joy his trainer card.

"Olivia, would you show Devin to his room please?" Nurse Joy asks, snapping Olivia back to the present as she gives a quick respectful bow and grabs the nearest vacant room key. As the two walk up the stairs to the second floor, Olivia is suddenly aware that she's barely dressed and alone with a kid not much younger than she is. As she's wrapped up in her thoughts, she almost forgets about Devin until she reaches his room and unlocks the door for him.

"Thank you, Miss Olivia. Both for helping with Akia and for the room, too." Devin whispers, making Olivia suddenly feel old as she opens the door for the young boy. As he walks inside, he suddenly turns around and hugs her tightly, making the young woman extremely uncomfortable. As she tenses, her fight or flight response kicking in, Devin looks up at her, suddenly wondering what caused his savior to revert to a Deerling in headlights. As Devin releases Olivia, suddenly terrified that he somehow hurt her, she manages to snap out of it, looking at the boy with concern.

"I'm sorry, Devin. You just caught me a little unprepared for that. Don't worry about it, and you're more than welcome." Olivia replies sheepishly, finally registering that Devin had been thanking her, not attacking. As she feels her breathing slow, Olivia walks down the hall and down the stairs, heading back to her room to change.

A/N: Yeah sorry for the long wait, Been finishing off the other stories before I managed to get back to this one. I update every time I have 3 or more pages written, so it's a little slow when I'm doing non-oneshot stories. Hope you like it. As for Olivia's reaction, you have to remember she was abused, so it's difficult for her to be touched by anybody unless she completely trusts them. This is going to be a story where none of my main characters are Anthro/ hybridized. However, I'll try to make up for it with the other two for those of you who are into that sort of thing. Those of you that aren't, I'll continue this one. Anyway, WWMH out.