Chapter 8
Misty rubbed her eyes as she walked out onto the patio. Brock, May, and Gary were sitting at the table with iced tea and breakfast.
"Morning!" she called brightly.
"Morning!" they replied back. she sat next to Gary, stealing a piece of fruit off his plate.
"Hey, May, look at this." Brock said folding the paper he was reading and handing it to her.
"Drew?" May stared at the picture.
"Who's Drew?" Misty asked.
"He's a coordinater we met while traveling in Hoenn. He's very good, but he knew it. May left us to follow him to Johto. She had a crush on him." Brock smiled, "Didn't you two date?"
May didn't look up from the article, but nodded.
"You know, one of those childhood crushes." Brock laughed.
"I know. But they disappear as quickly as they come." Misty giggled.
"Not always." everyone looked over at May who was staring intently at Misty. "Sometimes you think they're gone, but the feelings are just hidden in the back of your head until you see the person again."
"May?" Misty asked softly, but May didn't reply. Instead she went back to the paper as Ash walked out the back door.
"You look terrible!" Brock commented.
"Yeah, well, I didn't sleep well last night." he grumbled shooting a glare at Misty and Gary.
Brock laughed, catching Ash's look, "Well they did say that they hadn't seen each other in awhile."
Misty blushed bright red and distanced herself from Gary.
"Misty, can I have a word with you?" Ash asked suddenly serious.
"Uh...yeah, I guess." she stood up and they walked off towards the oceanwhere he was sure that no one would hear them, or sneak up on them.
"I want to tell May about Katie." he said as they stood there.
"What?" Misty asked hoping that she heard him wrong.
"I want to tell May about Katie, "he repeated, "about everything."
She shook her head violently, "No...no,no,no,no,no." for good measure she looked him dead in the eyes, "No."
"Why not?"
"Why not?" Misty smirked, "Because I'm her mother and I said so."
"I'm her father." he said matter of factly.
"Biologically maybe. But Gary is her father. Gary went to the doctor's appointments. Gary was in the delivery room. 2am feedings, first steps, her first day of preschool, Gary was there for all of it."
"I could have been there! If you had just told me!"
"I know, Ash." she said softly, "I know you would have been there. On weekends, and May could have been at the appointments with us. We would have been one happy family."
"I married May 2 years ago! If you had told me that you were pregnant-"
"What? You would have dumped her and married me instead?" Of course you would have, you're Ash Ketchum. You would have stuck yourself with me because of your sense of responsibility. But I didn't want that."
Ash began to breathe deeply almost as if trying to control himself. She wasn't sure what was going to happen next. She waited, then turned on her heels scoffing as she started to walk away.
"You didn't want me to stay with May, you didn't want me to leave her." he grabbed her wrist, whipping her around so she faced him, "What the hell do you want from me, Misty? Because, honestly, I'm sick and tired of trying to figure it out!"
She ripped her arm out of his grasp, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I just wanted you to want me?!" She didn't wait for his response, instead running into the house.
Ash just stood there. He didn't know what had just happened. He looked over towards the house, everyone on the patio stared in his direction. He knew they all had questions, but he wasn't ready to answer them. He turned and walked along the beach. Oh, the enigma that is Misty Williams. One moment she acted as if he repulsed her, then there were other times...He sighed and sat on the sand sticking his feet in the water. She was right, if she had called him up saying that she was pregnant he would have left May. He had to, he couldn't have left Misty with a child that had been his fault. Even now he was conflicted. Part of him thought that he should tell May, they would get divorced, and he would marry Misty, make her an honest woman. The other part wondered how that would be fair to May, she did marry him, and love him after all. He stood, he had to think. He had to clear his mind. He walked back into the house. On his way, he glanced at the patio. Brock was gone, leaving May and Gary who were having a quiet conversation. May was the only one talking while Gary was looking down and nodding. They both stopped talking as he walked up and looked at him. Ash paused but no one said a word so he went up to his room and fell onto his bed.
*****
Gary walked up the stairs pausing as he passed Katie's open door. She was sleeping on the bed while Misty sat next to her stroking her head.
"Hey." he whispered.
"Hi. Can we talk?" she asked standing and walking out of the room.
"Why haven't we gotten married?" she demanded once they were in their own room with the door closed.
"Where did this come from?" Gary asked almost laughing.
"Just answer the question. We've been together for a long time. Why haven't we gotten married?"
"I don't know...because..." he sighed avoiding her eyes.
"Because? That's not an answer!" she exclaimed.
Gary was quiet for awhile then looked up at her with a strange expression, "Misty, do you want to get married?"
She raised an eyebrow, "What sort of question is that? Of course I want to get married!"
He sighed, "But, do you want to marry me?" she opened her mouth to say something but he held up his hand, "Think about it. You and I, til death do we part. No one else. Is that what you really want?"
"Gary..."
"Listen, when we started this thing, we had an agreement. I knew that you were in love with someone else. But I wanted to be there for you, and for Katie." he smiled at her, "I do love you, and I always will, but don't you think this works for us? We're not tied to each other...for whatever happens."
"What do you mean? What do you expect to happen?"
Gary took a breath choosing his next words wisely, "I know that this week has been hard for you. I mean, you still have feelings for Ash. He's been confusing you, and Katie's newfound love of him can't be helping. This is for the best. You know, in case you get the chance to rekindle things with Ash."
She was speechless, "Gary...it sounds like you're breaking up with me...which isn't possible...right?"
"Misty...I really think...Katie should know her father. And you and Ash...I mean, if there's any lingering feelings, I'd rather you know now. If you find out there isn't, then maybe we can continue this. But I think there's some things that you need to figure out."
"What?" tears began to roll down Misty's cheeks, "I don't have...why are you talking like this? You've only been here one day! How can you know how Ash and I have been?"
Gary's face turned red, he hated seeing her cry, especially when he knew he was the reason. "It doesn't take very long to notice the way you two look at each other. I just want you to be completely sure there's nothing between you."
"And if there isn't?" she asked, "Then this was all for nothing?"
"No." he sighed, "if there truly is nothing...I'll marry you."
She nodded and walked out of the room. Gary exhaled loudly as he realized that she never denied it.
Ash woke up and glanced around the room. It was dark, it hadn't been when he fell asleep. He heard a door shut loudly followed by footsteps which hesitated outside his door before running downstairs. He stood up and went to the window, there ,surprisingly, wasn't anyone outside. That's when he saw a head of red hair bobbing out towards the ocean before collapsing on the sand. He went over to the door and downstairs passing May on her way up.
"Where are you going?" she asked him.
"Uh, just to get some air. I guess I slept most of the day." he laughed sheepishly.
"Yeah, I remembered you saying that you didn't sleep well last night so I didn't wake you." she glanced out the window overlooking the beach and smiled a little. "Can you believe that this is our last night here? I'm going to miss being around everyone, and waking up to such a beautiful view."
He followed her gaze catching sight of Misty again, he raised an eyebrow at her but she didn't seem to notice, "Don't be out too late, you know Trish will kill you if you look over tired in the pictures." she kissed his cheek and skipped the rest of the way up the stairs.
He slowed his pace as he got closer to where Misty was sitting, trying to gage her mood. If she was still angry about earlier, it probably wouldn't be best to talk to her now. That was when he noticed that she was crying.
"Misty? What's wrong?" he asked standing beside her.
She looked up at him, hesitating, "Gary broke up with me." she said.
He sat down next to her, "Why? You two seemed fine yesterday."
"We were...that's why I'm so confused." she stared at him for a long time before continuing, "That's not the only thing I'm confused about."
"What else?"
"You."
"Me?" he prepared himself for another arguement, "What did I do?"
"I don't know. Ever since we got here, we've been weird around each other. And when we were telling Katie that story...you know the one of how we met...." she looked him dead in the eye, "You were going to kiss me. Why? You're married and you've already made that mistake once. I just don't understand why you seem to lose your senses around me. I don't do anything!"
He looked down. This was the question he had been trying to answer for the last 5 years. Why? Why did Misty have this affect on him? Even when he was younger, things that he would never done to anyone else, he did to Misty. He fought with her over the stupidest things. She drove him crazy just by giving him a look. He was insanely jealous if anyone showed a slight intrest in her, but the knowledge that she had a crush on him caused him to run the other way. Why? Then it hit him, almost like a bolt of lightening. He smiled. He still hadn't looked up at her, but his smiled soon turned to a giggle, then a full fledged laugh. Soon he was rolling on his back laughing hysterically.
Her eyes widened in shock, "What are you laughing at? That wasn't a funny question!" she yelled but he didn't let up, tears were flowing from his eyes as he laughed. She groaned in aggravation and stood up, getting ready to walk away.
Suddenly he stopped laughing and began to sing softly. Ash had always been one to sing loudly and off key, but it wasn't the softness of his voice that caught her it was what he was singing.
"Out here in the quiet of the night, beneath the stars and moon, we both know we've got something on our minds, we won't admit but it's true."
"Ash...all this time...you heard me that night?" she asked.
He smiled as she sat back down, "You give me way too much credit. I didn't hear you. Brock was recording the forest sounds at night because Prof. Oak had heard about a new type of pokemon. He didn't get any unusual sounds, except you singing that song."
"And I'm sure you guys had a good laugh at my expense." she looked about ready to cry again.
"No, Brock didn't even let me hear it for a long time. I don't know why he kept it, but when I did finally hear it, I listened to it over and over. No one had ever sung a song about me before." he smiled at her. They were silent for a long time before he leaned forward and kissed her. She placed her hands on his chest preparing to push him away but his reflexes were quicker as he wrapped his arms around her holding her against him. It wasn't long before she surrendered sliding her hands up to his shoulders and kissing him back. Ash could swear that he heard a squeal of joy, but figured that he was just imagining it. When they finally split apart he grinned at her, "I love you."
She sighed, "Ash, what am I supposed to do with that?"
"Say it back!" he smiled before pecking her on the lips, "I love you."
"Ash-"
"Say it back! I love you!" another kiss.
"But-"
"I love you! Say it back!" another one.
"Ash!" she started to laugh as he kissed her again.
"Say it back! I love you! God, I love you!" he laughed too kissing her again. They continued to laugh inbetween kisses and Ash proclaiming his love for her.
"Please say it back. I could be struck by lightning right now but I'll go peacefully if you just say it back." he kissed her again.
"Ash...I can't..." she sighed looking down.
"You can't? Because you don't?"
"No...because I won't...Ash, you say you love me now. But what do you intend to do about it? You loved May a week ago and now look at you."
"I love you in a way that I could never love May." he said his voice suddenly serious, "I love May...but like I love one of my best friends. I love you. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love anything. Please, tell me you love me too."
"If I said it, what would happen. Would you leave May?" her expression gave nothing away.
"Misty...no, you know I can't...I know that it's not fair to us, but dumping my wife isn't fair to her. It's not her fault that I'm an idiot. That I can't even figure out who I'm in love with."
She stood up and sighed before turning and walking back into the house without more than a word to him. Ash watched her go before putting his head in his hands and sobbing.
Last edited:
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD