Title: Closure

Author: Chibi/Warlordess

Pre-Author's Notes: I was just remembering the quote from Misty's Leaving eppie (you'll find out which one I mean when you read the first sentence in the chapter) and, since I've really been wanting to do something on this for awhile, and since I know that, after the Togepi's Paradise special, Misty leaves again (DAMN IT!), I wanted to do something simple and sweet with something that every AAMR fan would be looking for upon her return: Romantic closure between her and Ash.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

Summary: Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter One: Crushing the Loneliness

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She marched off into the sunset, not looking back as she knew that she'd be seeing him once again, "Well, Ash Ketchum, I finally know how you feel about me..."

Her eyes were glazed over, her expression dazed at the memory. She had missed him a lot, that was true, and seeing him again had made something in her stomach, in her chest, find it's way into her throat whenever she tried to speak to him. And when she looked at him, she somehow had visions of romantic little scenes between them. And when she heard his voice, it made her tremble.

She was an emotional wreck.

She had never remembered it being this bad when she left. She knew she'd been crushing on him ever since Trovita in the Archipelago "Orange League", when, upon remembrance, she realized that she didn't know what she'd do with herself if she were away from him. She supposed that it was a reason to thank Rudi, his question about her staying with him on the island having forced her to come to a decision that she'd been pondering over for so long.

But ever since she'd come back to Cerulean City, ever since she'd realized how long her sisters' trip around the world would take, ever since she'd taken over Gym Leadership and the responsibilities that came along with it and noticed that it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be... Her feelings seemed to have been magnified so much so that she couldn't even hide them from herself, let alone anyone else who asked...

"Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone call! Phone call!" The automated voice system of the videophone chose to knock her from her memorial horse and send her flying to the present and she rushed over to it and picked up the receiver. The Indigo Central Servicing Committee had sent a request for inspection availability almost a week ago and she'd been waiting for a phone call to dictate a certain time, so maybe this was them?

But when she pressed the 'vid-screen ON' button, the face she saw was definitely not one of the official members of The ICSC and, actually, as she squinted, she was positive that it was--

"--Ash--!"

"Hiya, Misty!" His voice made her eyes widen as she recognized him. Obviously the fourth league journey had done a lot for his maturity... Well, not really. But his physical appearance seemed slightly different and she was sure that she could see some very subtle stubble growing along his face. But he was fifteen years old and boys usually hit that level around a year or so earlier...

"Um... Ash! Unbelievable; you actually called me?" She chuckled as he gave a slight frown, making his eyes glow negatively, "Usually I have to check three city Pokemon Centers in order to find you... I guess that miracles do happen!" She saw that he was taking her comments a little personally so she changed the subject, "So... Is there a reason that you've called me?"

"No, in fact you're such a stranger to me at this moment, I must have dialed the wrong number. C'mon, Myst, you're my friend, isn't that reason enough?" Was the reply and now Ash was laughing too, although he was looking a little nervous, it seemed; maybe even apprehensive.

"Yea, I suppose that it would be; that is, if you didn't have a reputation of losing complete contact with someone after you've separated from them." Misty scoffed and continued, "So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to press the subject. Why are you calling me so suddenly? Is, erm, the Hoenn League over yet?" She was embarrassed because she knew the answer to her question all ready. It was.

She'd seen the results of the battle expectations on the League Journeyman Station and, sadly enough, Ash was not on the victory list. Yet again, he'd fallen from the heights of Pokemon Master to Regular Pokemon Trainer and Traveler. She supposed that that wasn't why she was embarrassed, though. Upon asking that question, she'd just given the impression that she hadn't cared enough about him to watch the competition.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Ash cleared his throat and seemed to come to a certain decision before bowling on into something that was under a completely different topic , "Uh, hey Misty... Do you think that I can come to the Gym and stay there a few days?" This question left Misty feeling plenty of scattered emotions and, for some reason that she was unsure of, pleasure wasn't exactly one of them.

She was glad that Ash would want to visit her but, well, this was sort of sudden for one thing, and it was almost too much to think that his mother wouldn't want to see or hear from him first.

"Er... Why would you want or need to stay here at the Gym, Ash?" It was at this point that he gave one of his sheepish "Heh"'s that almost always meant he'd done something wrong and Misty's eyes narrowed knowingly, "What did you do, Ash?" Her voice was now no longer confused or hopeful or in any way positive. Quite to the contrary, she seemed to be holding back the urge to strangle him through the screen.

"'Do'..? I didn't 'do' anything, Misty..." He broke off there and then apprehensively continued, turning scarlet, "... Except maybe confuse a ferry schedule or two..." He gave a nervous cough and went on, "I-I mean, it was really confusing! There was the blue route and then there was the yellow route and then the red and violet! And they all went to different places and the map with the color-coded arrows was really jumbled up and I ended up getting on the boat to Cerulean Bay instead of the one to Pallet Port..."

"Ash, we've taken the ferry a million times! How could you possibly mess it up? And why don't you just stay the night in the Center and then take the next ferry in a couple of days? They run more than just once a month, in case you don't remember..." She muttered, no longer very happy to hear from him, "Or maybe, you know, you could start walking now..."

"Well, see, about that. There's been a few problems along the way. You see, I was going to buy another ticket for Thursday's ferry to Pallet but the guy said that they'd closed down the harbors all over Kanto for the rest of the week because we're supposed to have fierce storms and negative weather patterns through next Monday." It was obvious that he was quoting because Ash could never speak so smartly, "And, for the same reasons, I wouldn't really wanna risk walking... And the Center was all ready full of other travelers and trainers when I got there so there's no room. Actually, that's where I am now and..." His face moved out of the way and cleared the view so that Misty could take notice of about thirty sleeping bags on the Waiting Room floor, "...As you can see, not much room for another person..."

"Well... Then..." Misty spluttered, trying to think of another excuse. She didn't really wanna sleep in the Gym with Ash, believe it or not. It could lead to all sorts of possibilities and now that she was finding it so much harder to avoid her feelings for him, it would be a really stupid thing to do, inviting him to stay the rest of the week just so she could give him plenty of chances to guess what was up with her, "Then take your own sleeping bag and sleep outside! You're a trainer; you can take it!"

"Misty, have you listened to anything I've just said? The guy says that the weather's supposed to be REALLY bad. Do you actually wanna risk me drowning out there and then have to deal with the guilt, not to mention the charges pressed by my mom because you let me die?" Ash was turning slightly red with embarrassment again, "Besides, I, er, forgot my sleeping bag on the boat and it's all ready left again."

"Well, you're just spouting holes on all sides, aren't you?" Misty stated, sighing exasperatedly. She couldn't help it. She didn't want him to drown, she didn't want to get sent to Juvenile Hall for 'Inhumanity', and she didn't want to feel guilty about him sleeping out in that weather anyhow when she had the nice, warm, comfy Gym waiting right down the road, "Oh..." She moaned, "...Fine, Ash. You're welcome to stay here." A smile instantly appeared on his formerly shying and desperate face, "Just don't expect me not to give you some type of work while you're here! I'm not gonna be any cheaper than the Center!" Immediately, his smile was gone but she'd all ready hung up on him.

She turned her back on the vid-phone, almost daring it to ring again. When it didn't, she sighed and made due with playing with the hem of her shirt.

Things were just not going her way this week...

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Post-Author's Notes: Well, there's the first chapter. I was actually planning on making this a one-shot at first but, I dunno, it just seemed better to draw it out a bit and make things funnier and more suspenseful. I know you've seen a million fics like this out there, especially for AAMR, but since there's hardly any plotline out there that's still new, I had to give this a shot.

Don't worry, I'll try and make things as cute and AAMR-ish as possible. Also, I'll be taking requests for anyone who wants to see something happen between the two. Hmm, maybe an accidentally-peeking-into-the-shower-when-it's-occupied scene..?

--Chibi/Warlordess signing off!