~*~

CHAPTER ELEVEN

~*~

Determinedly, the young red head sat alone of the small stretch of beach. Six o' clock came and went, then seven. The hands of her watch slowly inched their way around to the eight, but still she sat, alone on the cold rock, on the cold beach, in the north-west of Vermillion City.

She loved him. She had faith in him. She'd wait forever if she had to. She knew that he'd come for her, this time.

And on the cliff behind her, the tall, slightly lanky boy stood still watching her silently, as the last straggling rays of sunlight gave the front spikes of his hair an orangey tinge, not unlike hers. He watched her, never moving, waiting to see if she'd give up, wanting to see if she was sorry, needed to know that she still wanted him with every fibre of her being, the way she used too.

Still, she sat.

And still, he stood.

Stupid, stupid, stupid - came the taunting voice from inside the girl. How could you ever think he was coming? You were an annoyance, and it looks like you still were.

Just a pain. Misty, the stupid complication in the Pokémon Master's life…

Misty jerked her head up, and forced a beaming smile onto her face. She was stubborn. So very stubborn. And she loved him, So very much. She wasn't going anywhere. And up on the cliff, Ash remained standing still, overseeing her almost parentally as she sat, holding her knees together as she sheltered herself from the cold wind that had began to blow up out of nowhere.

The tidal wind whipped up the silvery sand, but Misty's eyes were already stinging with tears that she was far too obstinate to let fall. To let them fall would be a release, but a sign of weakness none the less, and Misty Waterflower wasn't weak. She had been, but not anymore. She was broken still, and needed, oh so desperately to be repaired.

Her attention wavered to the ocean in front of her, the water dark and reflecting nothing but a cloudy sky. There was a chalky smudge where she guessed the moon was positioned, but the sky was like the water - a swirling mass of grey. Every few moments, the ocean would toss itself up into crystal foam, and the water sucked backwards as it was pulled from the other side of the world.

It was beautiful, ever changing, never the same. Misty yearned for her familiar and satisfactory ritual, and just wanted to charge into that beautiful world, where she always felt safe, but she remained on the rock, in her silence, waiting for him…because she knew that he'd come.

And he did.

Misty felt his presence long before she saw him, but did not dare to look up until she was sure. Even through the dun light, her eyes met his and the gaze held perfectly, and comfortably. The wind blew harder, and Misty's slender form was slightly buffeted around - but she did not drop the precious, precious eye contact with him.

Her blood crashed in her head, just as the water viciously pounced on the sand as the wind agitated the small waves further.

Ash couldn't help it. He smiled, and walked closer. She stared at him, like a tiny frightened rabbit, and as he slowly raised his arm, she slowly raised from the rock. Absentmindedly, Misty pushed back the front bangs of her hair, as she almost shyly reached out her hand, fingers spread, longing to touch him again.

A peal of thunder split the sky, and immediately both arms jerked back. Ash swallowed, and spoke, his voice sounding odd.

"It's going to rain." Smiling again, bashfully, he took her hand, and gently rubbed warmth into her icy fingers with his own, as he led her into her cave, remembering the hidden whereabouts of it behind the weeds perfectly.

As they walked into the pitch blackness, Misty broke the contact with his reassuring hand, and set to walk across the room to get the matches to light the candles. Ash felt her hand leave his, and felt a jolt inside. Blindly he reached out, and grabbed her shoulder. Gently he pulled her deep into his embrace and he kissed her, like she hadn't been kissed for well over a year. Easily, Ash slid one hand around her waist and the other rested across her shoulders.

At first Misty tensed up, but then Ash felt her shudder against him as she gave up and returned his kiss eagerly, and slid her arms around his neck and cupped her hands behind. When they finally broke apart, out of breath, Misty felt…so much lighter.

"Light," she mumbled, as she broke away again and clumsily, but with years of practice behind her, lit the candles eventually. She turned around and looked at Ash wordlessly. He flashed his trademark grin back at her from across the floor.

"I guess this means you still like me huh?" he joked. To his relief, Misty beamed at him, and he felt his heart jump.

"Ash I love you. You're the one person who can make me unbelievably happy and the one person who can make me unbelievably sad. I love you." Ash opened his mouth to speak, but she raised a hand to silence him. "I love everything about you - even the bits I hate. I'm not a me without an us, and I just want to say that I'm sorry."

"Misty," Ash began as he walked haltingly across the sandy floor towards her and took her hands. "You are my reason to be, no one would have done what you did for me, and I love you for that. I also love you for every other thing about you, and I'm sorry too…really." Misty sniffed slightly.

"Really?"

"Really," he reassured her with a grin, as he kissed her down to their knees on the floor, before reaching into his rucksack and pulling out three items - a newly folded piece of paper, a pen, and a white rose, in full bloom, tied with a pale blue ribbon, and thoughtfully stripped of thorns. Misty took the rose, smiling as she twisted the long stem gently between her fingers. "I even wrote us another pact," said Ash quickly, blushing, and looking remarkably younger than his 18 years. Misty smiled, and took the paper curiously.

Quand je regarde dans vos yeux, je réalise que mon amour pour vous me mourra jamais jamais - ensemble pour le reste de nos vies - vous veulent toujours ici par mon côté - vous êtes tout à moi - que vous êtes ma raison d'être

Misty furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to decipher it, but her French was a tool in her memory too dusty to use, Gently, Ash recited it.

"When I look into your eyes, I realise, that my love for you will never, ever die. Together for the rest of our lives, I always want you here by my side. You are everything to me, you are my reason to be."

"Aw Ash!" Misty cooed. "Did you make that up yourself?"

"Um no," Ash confessed, blushing again. "Took it off some anime that was on TV the other week…"

Misty made a mock disgusted noise in the back of her throat, but then smiled. She leant over to scrawl her cursive signature on the bottom, parallel to Ash's. Ash surveyed the top of her head and smiled at the deja vu.

"I'm sorry about something else Myst…" he whispered. She looked up questioningly. "I'm very sorry, cos you see, I never want to lose you again, and that means…..you have to marry me now."

Misty balked at what Ash had just said, and a lump formed in her throat. Frantically, she swallowed it, and looked at Ash in shock with wide open eyes. He took her hands again. "What, you want a proper proposal? Cuh - you would." Ash shifted his body so he was on one knee, and grinned cheekily. "Misty Kasumi Waterflower, will you be my wife?" Still Misty gaped at him. Ash began to feel paranoid.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaa? Okay I'm sorry I don't have a ring but this is a kind of spur of the moment thi-"

Ash was cut off as Misty hurled herself at him, banging his head against the soft sand of the cave floor as she smothered him with kisses, shouting YES!! between each kiss, until she collapsed on top of him exhausted. Ash pulled himself so he was leaning against the wall, and smiling, he looked down deep into his fiancé's damp eyes.

"Oh I love you so much it's scary…" she whispered as she fell into her old life. Ash smiled and gently stroked her hair as he felt a wave of love and contentment rush through him.

"I love you. I just love you so much."

~*~

"If it's a girl we have to call her Samantha," Ash droned in the background, as Misty held the small tube tightly between clenched fingers.

"Shut up!" she cried. "It hasn't reacted yet! You'll jinx it!"

"Jeez sorreeeee…" Ash muttered, but happily. He peered over his fiancé's shoulder at the torpedo shaped contraption that would somehow tell her if she was pregnant.

"It'd be well funny if you were pregnant Myst, cos you'd be huge by the wedding, and wouldn't fit into that expensive dress that you just had to have…" Misty swiped at the air behind her, too nervous and agitated to hit out at Ash properly. Ash sat stride on a chair pouting. "Misty you've been staring at that thing for hooooours…"

"I've been staring at it for two minutes Mr Pokémon Master!" came Misty's preoccupied answer. "And you could be a little more sensitive here? This is a big deal ya know!"

"Yeah I know." Ash smiled, and moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "But as long as I have you, everything's okay."

"What?" asked Misty, surprised. "You mean, you-you don't want a baby?"

"Of course I do!" replied Ash, adamantly. "But if it's not the right time yet, then I am perfectly content with just you."

Misty kissed the side of his nose, and the room fell silent again, as two sets of human eyes, and Pikachu watched the small, but life-changing thing in Misty's quivering hands, as it slowly, very slowly, began to change colour…

THE END

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O M A K E

Curtain calls!!

Ash, Misty, Brock, Tracey, Jo, Linda and Anju line up on the stage.

Ash presses downwards on Misty's head, winks, points at her stomach, and flashes a peace sign.

Misty wallops him with her mallet so he's laying crumpled on the stage, then copies the sign.

Brock starts throwing out what appears to be tacky paper confetti, but are actually small slips of paper with his telephone number on them.

Tracey stands completely still, with a blush over the bridge of his nose. He grins out to the audience for a brief moment before staring intently at his feet.

Jo is totally ignoring the audience, and is frantically wiping off her neon green eyeshadow and applying pink lipstick.

Linda is standing with her chest out, holding a huge bouquet of roses, trying to conceal the tag: We're so proud of you darling, love Mom.

Anju is gesturing widely with her arms above her head and is grinning happily. She lifts the back of her skirt up and moons the audience. No one takes any notice.

The first named character of the following pairs grabs, in lecherous fashion, the second named character. They exit as a couple to screams, giggles, and obvious delights - off to the woods!

Ash takes Misty

Brock takes Jo

Tracey takes Anju

Linda is left alone on centre stage. She is livid, and throws her roses at Tracey's retreating back. She crosses her arms and stamps her foot.

BLACKOUT