(AN: Well, I went and did it. I actually did continue this sick, sick (and omg sooooo shippy I can't take it!) fic. ;)

Please let me know if you like it, and if you want to see more rocketshipping fics from me! No promises on that regard… but I, of course, have a few more ideas.)

…

A mere two days later, and once again Team Rocket found themselves on the losing end, this time having been blasted directly on top of a large tree. Perched on a seemingly sturdy branch, James and Meowth ignored their aching limbs to exchange worried glances as Jessie seethed. Gourgeist, squarely on top of Inkay and preventing him from moving at all, reached one feathery limb out to her trainer—a comforting gesture, but the pumpkin Pokémon looked as nervous as James was feeling.

A tense second passed, then two. James exhaled, cautiously. If Jessie were to explode, she would have done so by now.

Another second passed before Jessie finally spoke. "Well. I think it's about time we switched gears."

"Switched gears?" Meowth asked, more confused than anything else.

"Redirect ourselves. Pursue a different path. Whatever." Jessie turned to Gourgeist with a smile. "If I want to be Kalos Queen, I have two more Princess Keys I need to win, and they aren't going to win themselves!"

James exhaled more fully this time, his sense of relief overwhelming. As silly as he found those showcases, Jessie clearly enjoyed them and was always in a pleasant mood while preparing and participating—well, as long as she didn't lose, anyway.

Meowth didn't sound as relieved, though. "We're just gonna stop and do more showcases? What about the twerps?"

"The twerps can wait. It's not like we're going to lose them completely, after all… they always seem to be around, especially where things get interesting." Jessie laughed confidently, flicking back her hair. "And it doesn't get any more interesting than me!"

"You can say that again," James muttered.

The branch suddenly jostled alarmingly. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet exclaimed, popping up between Jessie and James and severely upsetting the balance of their precarious perch. With a groan and a crack, the branch gave way.

And with a yelp and a thud, Team Rocket crashed to the ground.

…

After nursing their wounds (again), Team Rocket found their way to a small embankment of a nearby river, shaded with trees, and decided to camp there for the night. As Jessie took off her boots and dipped her feet into the water, James located a nearby oran berry bush and picked a handful to feed to his Inkay, Meowth munching on them as well.

The feline Pokémon still wasn't particularly pleased. "All these Pokémon for us to catch, and we're gonna waste time in another one of those stupid beauty pageants?"

"I wouldn't complain," James said as Inkay happily grabbed another berry from his outstretched palm. "They keep Jessie happy, after all. And besides, you can't deny that you enjoy performing for a crowd, too."

"Heh, guilty as charged," Meowth admitted good-naturedly, popping a berry into his mouth. "I guess a break from some good old-fashioned thievery will do us some good. Let's just hope the audience is as thrilled with us as they were last time!"

"Inkay!" Inkay agreed, swallowing his last berry.

James stroked the top of Inkay's head affectionately. "How could they not be thrilled? Our Jessie will knock them dead!" He turned his glance over to Jessie a few yards away, still soaking her feet and talking to her Wobbuffet and Gourgeist. Although he couldn't hear her words, the expressions on all of their faces indicated that they were encouraging and caring.

Jessie looked pretty damn amazing at that moment.

"Hey, it ain't just Jessie on the team!" Meowth grumbled, snapping James out from his stupor. "What good is a Pokémon Showcase without Pokémon, anyway? Me, Gourgeist, and Wobbuffet are the real stars of the show!"

James, reluctantly, redirected his gaze back to Inkay and Meowth, but was still smiling. "All of you together are a winning team! Inkay, are you sure you don't want to participate?"

"Innnnn-kay," Inkay said, politely shaking his head.

"He says thanks but no thanks," Meowth translated. "He likes watching in the audience with you!"

"And we do get to watch quite a show," James said. "Well, Inkay? Have you had enough to eat?"

"'Kay!" Inkay nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning." James gave Inkay one last pat on the head, while Inkay returned the gesture by stroking James's arm with one of his tentacles. "Goodnight!" James returned Inkay to his Pokéball.

"I think one more for me will do it," Meowth said, popping one last berry in his mouth. "Then it's time for my nightly prowl."

"You'll be turning up empty-handed. The nearest town is miles away."

"Let me be the judge of that." Meowth jutted out his chin stubbornly.

"Be my guest. Enjoy all of the sticks and burrs you find."

"I'll bring plenty back for you, Jimmy boy," Meowth teased before scampering off.

James watched him until he no longer could and then turned back towards the riverbank. Jessie, still downriver from him, was returning her Pokémon to their Pokéballs and pulling her boots back on.

Such a knockout. Damn. She had to win the showcase. She had to win any damn contest she put her mind to. Who could resist her?

James awkwardly looked down at the ground.

Sure, he and Jessie had agreed that that mortifying night a few days ago had never happened, but James's brain apparently hadn't gotten the memo. In fact, if anything it was even harder for him to take his eyes off of her, marveling at perfectly tantalizing body, still wanting to touch and explore every inch of it.

But there was something else, too… something different. And it was a more confusing feeling, and definitely more overwhelming. It was that, in addition to none of his previous emotions going away after that horrendous night (if anything, they had only intensified), there was an additional feeling in his chest. Warm, uplifting, all-encompassing… almost too much, in fact—sometimes it felt like all of those feelings were just going to explode right out.

He had never felt this way before, but what's more was that he knew he couldn't feel this way. Not when Jessie had been so eager to declare that the scenario that had led to these feelings, both new and renewed, was never to be spoken of again.

"Hey James, where's Meowth?"

James nearly yelped from surprise, not realizing that Jessie had even been approaching him until she spoke and abruptly sat down next to him. "Um, he, um… he went to go prowl around, like usual." Damn, Jessie was right, he really was stammering far more than usual around her. He peeked up one eye at her in acknowledgment of her presence but didn't dare direct his full attention. His heart beat against his ribcage like a deranged drummer.

"What does he think he's going to find? The nearest town is miles from here."

"So I told him, but I suppose he wants to find that out for himself."

"Well, you know what they say… you can lead a Meowth to reason, but you can't make him think."

James arched an eyebrow. "No, I don't know what they say, because I've never heard that before now. You just made that up."

"Well, more people ought to say it, because it's true." Jessie puffed a loose strand of hair from her face and shifted her shoulders, her eyes darting this way and that. Surprised, James guardedly scanned her face, looking for clues to the cause of her sudden nervousness.

"Um. Anyway." Jessie's voice was self-assured and firm like usual, but she still couldn't keep a straight gaze, whether on James or anything else. "It works out to my advantage that he's going to be gone for awhile. I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure… what?" James readied himself for whatever Jessie-ism was about to ambush him.

"We need to talk about… you know. The other night." Jessie gulped and finally locked her gaze directly with his.

James gulped even harder. Was this a test? "I… don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, don't play dumb with me!" Jessie snapped. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, you horny little bastard."

James's face flushed with shame. "I thought we agreed that never happened," he said, his voice tiny and abashed.

"I know, but that was stupid. Saying that it never happened, I mean." Jessie's voice was back to her usual confidence, and her posture was finally matching her tone, as she sat up straighter and began gesturing her hand as if she were a professor giving a lecture. "Obviously it did, and it's something neither one of us can ignore. We've been afraid to go near each other ever since then—yes, I'm not blind, James, I noticed," she snapped, cutting James off before he had even fully opened his mouth to question her. "But it's… mutual. And it's stupid of both of us to feel guilty over it. Obviously what happened that night did happen, and there's nothing to be ashamed of."

"There's not?"

"Of course not," Jessie said flippantly. "After all, we're both adults, we both have needs, and there's nothing wrong with attending to them. I think the wrong thing now would be denying that those needs even exist, especially now that they've been brought out into the open like this."

"That… that still is no excuse for the way I acted," James blurted out. "Needs or not, I need to keep you out of them—"

"Hell no you don't!" Jessie shrieked, once again catching James completely off-guard. "You should be including me in them! Especially since it's my amazing body that brought these needs to your attention in the first place…" She winked flirtatiously at him. "Isn't that right, dear?"

James felt goosebumps erupt on his arms and back. "I wish you wouldn't toy with me like that… dear."

"I'm not toying, I'm being serious." And indeed, Jessie did look serious, dead-set on whatever it was she was about to propose, and James could almost see the last shred of his ability to dispute her vanish into thin air. "I've been thinking a lot about all this these past few days, and really, the only logical course of action now is for us to help each other out with these needs."

James gaped. His heart thudded harder and more irregularly, rattling his entire body like a spearow trapped in a cage. None of the rest of his body seemed to work at all.

He was already a goner, he knew this to be utterly true at that precise moment.

Jessie sighed impatiently. "Close your mouth. It's unbecoming to gawk like that."

James obediently snapped his jaw shut.

"I know it might sound like a lot, but it really doesn't have to be. We can take it slow at first and see where it goes from there. But you have to agree with me that the other night proved that we both need some sort of outlet, and if we're both feeling the same way, it's just plain stupid to continue to go at it alone." She almost had a smile on her face, sure of herself and seemingly satisfied with her proposal. The look quickly faded when she saw James was still frozen in place as if he had just wrestled a regice.

She frowned. Angrily.

Say something. SAY SOMETHING.

James gulped again. "I… I don't know, Jessie, I really don't think—"

"Oh do NOT even give me that," Jessie growled, an impending explosion imminent. "You're the one who gets a boner when you so much as look at me, you're the one who had to run off multiple times to rub one off because of me—did you suddenly change your mind?" Her voice grew more hysterical; her eyes more bloodshot with rage. "Am I not good enough for you?!"

"Of course you are—that's not what I'm—"

"Is there someone else?!"

"No! I just—"

"DON'T YOU WANT ME?!"

"YES I WANT YOU!" James's voice was louder than he'd ever heard it before, and he had to take a few breaths to steady himself (as much as he could given the situation). Even Jessie looked a bit taken aback, the flushes of anger previously tinting her face fading away into a mild surprise.

"Here's the thing," sighed James, finally able to get a word in. "Of course I want you. You're gorgeous. My feelings regarding you haven't changed—in fact, if anything…" James shook his head, his stomach suddenly doing a backflip. "Never mind. That doesn't matter. What does matter is that I feel that I nearly drove you away before because of these feelings, and I'm… concerned that if we pursue this, it would just make the problem worse. I don't want to jeopardize our relationship." There. Rational, truthful, and stated in a way that didn't turn him into a blubbering mess, crying that he didn't want to even take the chance of losing her, his penis and her vagina be damned.

Jessie considered this for a minute before barking out a small laugh, throwing James for a loop. "Oh, James, you're very sweet, you know, but as always you're making a mountain out of a diglett hill."

"I don't think my trepidations are unwarranted!" James protested.

"Shut up and let me finish." Jessie touched one hand to his mouth, silencing him. James's stomach did another backflip while his brain—and heart—were mentally waving a white flag. She definitely knew she was flirting. And she knew what effect she was having on him. And she was using it to her advantage. And, the most damning of all, James was at that moment quite content to be used by her in this manner, and whatever other manner she wanted.

"Think about all we've been through," she said, her voice unusually soft and tender for her. "Through school, through training, through this field assignment from hell. Think about all the times we've been blasted, electrocuted, flung around, nearly killed even. We've been through more crap than most people would go through in five lifetimes. And we're still partners. We're still friends. We still stick together no matter what." She smiled at James reassuringly. "And after all of that, you really think a silly little thing like sex would be the thing that drives us apart?"

James felt his nerves finally relax a degree or two, his worries quelled if only a little bit. "I… suppose I can't argue with that."

"Like I said, we can take it slow at first. We can start by just using our hands, just on each other rather than ourselves for once. And if we decide this isn't a good idea, then that's that. We drop it, we move on with our glorious Team Rocket lives and attend to our carnal desires on our own time." She bit her lip, and James had been around her long enough to know the gesture indicated her thick as steel tenacity was growing softer, possibly deliberately. "I just think we should try, at least. What do we have to lose? Maybe this will help both of us."

"Those are all sound points," James agreed, still trying to find a way to say no while every inch of his body was screaming yes. "But—"

"Don't you dare 'but' me!" Jessie snapped. "Getting cold feet isn't an option here! I want this, I KNOW you want this, and I'm not going to let you make some lame-ass excuse to just continue to putz around like nothing happened between us! Stop hiding the way you feel and just give in to your desires, dammit! Live a little! And, above all, for god's sake MAKE ME COME!"

That was enough to make the last recesses of James's brain still holding out finally give in and join the rest of his senses that seemed to be crying out "YES!" even louder than before.

"Yes ma'am!" he exclaimed, nearly tumbling off of his perch and landing on his knees in front of her. One hand shoot up along her thigh before he even quite knew what was happening. With the other hand, he lifted her miniskirt (he didn't have to lift it far) to reveal her small, thin panties, the only barrier now left between him and the promised land.

"Oh!" Jessie yelped in surprise, but a smile soon followed, along with a slight flush of her cheeks. "Eager, are we?"

James hesitated yet again, his hand hovering over her undergarment. Surely… surely this couldn't be happening, right? Jessie hadn't just asked—no, demanded—that he finger her? Was he losing his mind? And yet if he expressed doubts one more time, he knew she would bite his head off. "You're… sure you want this?" Another doubt quickly crossed his mind, one that both cleared up some of the confusion and made his heart sink. "From me?" Because the plain truth of the matter was that Jessie could simply just be wanting some male attention—some human attention, period—and James just happened to be the only one around to give it to her. It made plenty of sense, and yet the realization was piercing his heart with a level of pain it really shouldn't have.

"Of course from you!" Jessie looked more and more impatient, her limbs quivering from anticipation. "You're my friend and I trust you completely. Now get on with it!"

James took a second to take that in before carefully yet quickly taking off his gloves. "I'll try to not let you down. …You know I've never done this before, right?"

"If it makes you feel any better, neither have I, so I have no previous experiences to compare it to."

Surprised, James felt his eyes lock with Jessie's, who continued to only appear impatient at his hesitation. All those guys she'd dated in the past and she never even got past second base?

"Would you please get on with it already?!" Jessie suddenly shrieked. "I'm so wet with anticipation I've already soaked my underpants, and if you're just going to stare at me all night that will have been for nothing—and—and I did not suggest this with the intention of just stalling out at the start!"

Oh dear god she was wet? James couldn't even attempt to fight it any longer. With one swift motion her panties were off.

And there it was, like a clamperl closely guarding a beloved treasure… or maybe not guarding so much as begging for a visitor, judging by how it was viably trembling a little… and yes, gleaming. Fine, smooth hair, the same exact color as Jessie's mane, curled this way and that around the entry, almost pointing the way. James felt the hairs on his neck rise as he desperately fought down something else from rising. Really, was this actually happening? He actually was looking at Jessie's privates completely unclothed, with her express permission—no, command? Any minute now he'd wake up—or Jessie would slap him for falling for and failing her test. Right?

Jessie simmered, and in a low voice, growled at him, "Any time this century would be great, James, if you don't want me to just completely take over on my own."

"With me or without me?" James blurted out without thinking, the thought of her just grabbing him and having her way with him exciting him like he'd never thought possible.

"Without."

"Damn. I—I mean—"

Jessie finally smirked. "So you do want to participate. Please have your actions match your words now, if you would?"

His heart falling into his stomach and his stomach flopping all over the place, James took a deep breath and finally, slowly, carefully slinked one finger across her vulva, still hardly daring to believe he was actually doing this.

Jessie inhaled sharply, but still looked a bit annoyed. "I don't really need the warmup here, James, I'm obviously already dripping. Just dive right in… as it were." Did she blush again?

James, on the other hand, knew he was blushing. His face felt like it was burning up, to match a lot of other sensations in the rest of his body. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to—"

"Stop talking and just finger me already!" The demand was more urgent than angry, but it was a demand all the same.

A sudden realization shot through James's brain, that as much as he had felt throughout these past few days that he was completely at her mercy, right now the tables seemed to have been turned. Well, perhaps more equalized… his resolve was obviously still melting with each and every word she spoke. But it seemed to be, if nothing else, mutual, given how much Jessie was verbally and physically begging for him to continue.

He wasn't sure how, or why, exactly… but in some way, she wanted him, badly.

His heart pounded with a newfound passion and excitement he hadn't even realized he could feel as he dexterously dipped a finger into her labia, boldly exploring this newfound territory.

"Mmm…" Jessie groaned, a sound that encouraged James to explore further. A second finger joined in, causing Jessie to gasp even stronger than the first time.

As he continued to finger her, Jessie still making small moans of approval every now and then, James felt yet another sensation overtake him, one that was so sudden and so unexpected—and so strong—that he nearly pulled his fingers out from her, only continuing on his task with the knowledge that Jessie would kill him if he stopped now. But this new desire was on the verge of taking over his very actions.

He wanted to kiss her.

And not just on the lips (although the lips were definitely on the list). But… everywhere. Her neck. Her shoulders. Her abdomen. Her thighs. Even down here, where his fingers were. And the more he tried to push those thoughts out of his head, the more he was moved to do it. To taste her… to taste her everywhere, to feel her shudder underneath his mouth, to do to her physically what she was doing to him mentally…

"James? Hello?"

James snapped back to attention and quickly retracted his hand from Jessie's vulva. "Sorry! Am I doing it wrong?"

"Not necessarily—put your fingers back!" She sounded so desperate that his fingers were back inside before he was even conscious of moving them. "You're doing fine, it would just help you paid a little attention to this right here." She pressed one finger slightly above the opening, right where the slit began.

James couldn't even really see what it was she was pointing at, but keeping his fingers stroking inside her labia, he lifted his other hand and brushed a finger alongside hers, his stomach and his heart flipping places yet again as he tried to locate just what she was referring to. She moved her finger out of the way and he found a small nub.

"Mmm… yeah, right there. Rub it." Jessie closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

Whatever it was about this spot, Jessie sure seemed to like attention there. Both hands busy now, the urge for his mouth to join their level of activity intensified enough to make James fervently focus on his hands in a vain attempt to overpower this new, unwanted (and yet so desperately wanted) desire. This had the unintended side effect of his hands moving faster and faster against her, but Jessie didn't seem to mind. Indeed, this seemed to be exactly what she wanted.

In fact, the more she groaned in approval the faster James went to satisfy her. Soon her foot was twitching, almost stomping on the ground, in time with her passionate growls of "Yes, YES, YES!" that grew more and more ardent the faster his fingers moved. She finally let out a wordless shout, and James pulled himself away, not entirely sure what it meant.

Jessie was panting, her chest heaving up and down in a way that James found incredibly appealing. "Wow," she breathed, pushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. "You're… you're really good at this."

James felt himself smile in satisfaction. "You're welcome," he said coolly.

Jessie blushed. James's heart skipped a beat again. Why did it keep doing that?

"Wow. I mean, wow." Jessie still seemed to be trying to catch her breath. "Yes, this definitely was a good idea. Wow. Um." She abruptly (and clumsily) stood up, one hand pulling her lower garments back on her body, the other hand pulling James up with her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Jessie took one last deep breath and nimbly stroked one hand through James's hair, causing his knees to buckle. "Your turn."

There was a slight pause.

Jessie, hiding her uneasiness, moved her hand from his hair down along his back, acknowledging the shock in his eyes and feeling his sharp intake of breath as she did so. He was affected, obviously, and she felt a satisfying surge of power—and something else, a more tender feeling—overtake her as she processed this information. But, and almost stronger than that, she felt a note of concern and worry.

"You didn't think I wasn't going to reciprocate, did you?" she asked sincerely. The look on his face seemed to indicate that he had.

"I… I wasn't thinking that far ahead," he finally admitted.

Jessie smiled, despite herself. He was strangely adorable when he was flustered. "I told you it was mutual, remember? Which means that our arrangement is also mutual." She stopped herself, suddenly realizing that after all of this, he might not want her reciprocating. He had been so hesitant to actually embark on this in the first place, after all… and Jessie realized that even if that were true, she had still gotten the best orgasm she'd ever experienced in her life out of the deal. Still, she felt oddly disappointed at his present reluctance. James's reluctance was making her feel oddly disappointed on a number of fronts, in fact, and she had no clue how to deal with it. "That is… unless you don't want me to do this." She felt her face flush again. Dammit. What was going on? Please, please want me, her subconscious begged him. And it wasn't just begging him to want the action, but to want it from her specifically. Jessie successfully kept this alarming new side of her from voicing it aloud, but it was still screaming inside of her incessantly.

"Yes—I mean—yes, I want you to." James's cheeks flushed a brilliant shade of crimson, so red that Jessie's heart warmed at the sight of it. "I mean—as long as you want to—"

Jessie hooked her thumbs along his waistline, firmly securing them at the edge of his pants. "Your needs are just as important as mine, dear," she said, with a tenderness she wasn't aware she possessed. Surprised at this, she quickly yanked his pants down, trying to push those feelings away from her consciousness.

His penis immediately sprung to attention the second it was free from its confines. Jessie smirked, although she still felt heat rising to her cheeks. "You do want this," she murmured, trying to keep her cool. The truth was, she'd never seen one of these before, ever, and while the whole thing was intriguing, fascinating even… she just never expected that he'd be the first guy she'd see like this.

Jessie could hear James gulp. "S-sorry," he stammered. "I didn't—"

"Don't apologize," she breathed, grabbing one glove by the finger and carefully pulling it off. "This is just how I want you." She dropped to her knees, the other glove quickly joining its mate on the ground.

James let out an exhale that, somehow, shook Jessie to her core. "I'm all yours," he whispered.

They were now past the point of no return, but Jessie had no wish to go back at all. In fact (and rather embarrassingly), she felt as if she was about to burst into tears of joy, her whole body feeling like it was soaring. So many feelings were flooding her, remembering how he was the one who'd said he'd do anything for her, that he just now said she was gorgeous, had affirmed multiple times that yes, he did indeed want her…

…and now was not the time to give in to all of these mushy feelings, now was the time to rub his dick.

She wrapped one hand near the tip, rubbing the thumb of her other hand along it, surprised at how slick it already was. Hearing the much-wanted gasp from James at her action, she boldly began moving her hand up and down the length, continuing to roll the tip between her other thumb and forefinger. James's breathing hitched yet again, and Jessie felt a hand grip the crook of the back of her neck.

This invigorated her even more, despite the fact that this kind of touch was completely different than the kind of touching he had been doing to her lower regions just minutes before. How was it that the act of pleasuring him was turning her on? Perhaps she had never really been turned off after that amazing fingering and orgasm he had given her, she inwardly reasoned, desperately trying to ignore the fact that the intoxicating warmth and exhilaration was only intensifying with every stroke she gave him. James was now almost whimpering, his eyes squinted shut, one fist balled up while the other hand trembled against the back of Jessie's head. Jessie felt as though she might burst. She also felt the surprising idea of putting her mouth around his penis suddenly enter her head and refuse to leave. No, no, I told him we were taking this slow, she hastily reminded herself, but the idea wouldn't budge, and Jessie had to command all of her power to keep herself from following through with it.

"Don't you dare hold back on me," she instead growled at him. Even if his hand hadn't been buried in her hair, she still would have been able to feel his tension from a mile away. "This is supposed to be a release." To emphasize her point, she moved both of her hands faster against him—not too fast, as she didn't want to end this too quickly, but fast enough to let his guard down a bit more.

He let out a gasp, wordlessly and yet noisily rushing past his vocal chords, and shot his other hand to her shoulder, now gripping her with both hands. Jessie, exhilarated, moved her hands even faster automatically, fiercely biting her lip to keep her mouth away from where it desperately wanted to be. Enough holding back—something was about to burst, and needed to burst.

It was hardly two seconds after Jessie had thrown caution to the wind and given up on holding back herself that James followed suit in the most overt way possible. With one last moan of jumbled syllables that almost sounded like her name (why did the sound make Jessie's heart and stomach leap?), her gripped her shoulder even tighter as his penis twitched and shot out a string of white, sticky liquid, hitting Jessie square in the face. Shocked, Jessie stumbled back, falling down to a sitting position, a second shot hitting her hair. She strangely didn't mind.

"Oh no!" James cried, clearly mortified, awkwardly twisting his body away from her while his penis still spluttered out two or three more shots. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to—did you just lick it?!"

Jessie licked her lips thoughtfully, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to wipe up the mess. "It actually tastes pretty good," she admitted. Looking him straight in the eye, she added sharply. "And don't apologize. That was the whole point, you idiot!"

"But… but your hair…" James was awkwardly rubbing a hand against the tip of his penis, as if trying to pat himself dry as well, the task made difficult due to how much his limbs seemed to be shaking.

"It's fine," Jessie said, surprising even herself. Shaking her hand dry, she rubbed the rest of the ejaculate off of her face with her forearm. Saying she hadn't expected for him to come so fast, or so forcefully, was an understatement, and yet… she felt herself smiling from satisfaction. "So… did you like it?"

James somehow managed to yank his pants back up before collapsing to the ground, a few feet away from Jessie. "I… I… just… give me a few minutes… to breathe normally again…"

Jessie gulped. This seemed to be a good sign… right? Although it could be a bad sign… oh why do you care if he liked it or not? But she needed to know more than she'd ever needed to know anything else before in her life.

It must have shown in her face, because James took what appeared to be a calming breath before looking very pointedly at her. "Yes, Jessie… god yes. You're amazing."

Now it was Jessie who had trouble drawing a breath. Oh if only she could hear that repeated every minute of every day for the rest of her life.

Oh get over yourself Jessie! Of course you're amazing. James is just an idiot for taking this long to realize it, that's all.

Jessie felt herself grin at him, finally able to speak again. "You'd better believe it," she purred.

There were a few moments of silence, both of them seeming to need a breather. Jessie kept her gaze away from James entirely, putting far too much attention into pulling her gloves back on. The rush of strange emotions bubbling inside of her was surprising, and truth be told a bit frightening. These emotions hadn't been the point of this at all—in fact, she desperately wanted to quell them, no matter how much other, less rational parts of her mind wanted to keep them and kindle them into something more.

Whatever the hell she was feeling, she just hoped James wasn't feeling it, too.

And she nearly barked out loud at how stupid that hope was. These feelings were tender and sentimental, and no one was more sentimental than James. And, maddeningly, this thought just made her feel happier.

"I think that was a smashing success," she blurted out, needing to talk before her thoughts grew too loud. She turned to look at him, and he turned to look at her, and she smiled in self-assurance to mask how terrified she was that he looked just like she felt. "We'll definitely have to do that more often."

James gulped. "Well…"

"WELL WHAT?!" Jessie shrieked.

James recoiled only a bit before, slowly and carefully, answering. "I'm in favor of doing this again, don't misunderstand me, but I'm just a bit confused as to… what this makes us now." He finished in a very quiet voice.

"It doesn't make us anything different from what we've always been," Jessie said, a bit too forcefully. "We're still the most amazingly stylish and charming Team Rocket branch the world has ever seen."

"Of course…" James almost smiled at that. "But doesn't this change anything? And not just about us… but between us."

Jessie almost felt as though she might melt, knowing that no one had ever been as sweet and sincere with her before… well, no one except James himself, many times over in the past, of course. It all made so much sense and yet her mind was still sounding the panic button, realizing how dangerously close James was to filling a role in her life that she'd always imagined someone else playing… someone she had yet to meet, true, but someone who she always knew was James's polar opposite. Someone strong, someone assertive, someone who could sweep her off her feet and take her away to a new life.

"I believe the term is 'friends with benefits,'" Jessie said, trying to shut him—and her stupid fantasies that were growing more confused and complex by the minute—down.

"Oh." He looked disappointed, yielding freely and yet reluctantly. Of course he did. And it didn't matter if he was disappointed or not, he was just going to have to deal with it like he always did (for their lives were nothing but a series of disappointments), but Jessie wanted so badly for this to not be one of those times… until she remembered yet again that this was all nonsense and that it wasn't him, it could never be him.

"You're getting confused," she said. "Understandable. So many people pair the physical and emotional together—and I suppose that's often the case, but they're still separate entities. But people still sometimes feel the earmarks for physical attraction and believe they signify a deeper emotional connection as well, when usually they're just caught up in the moment." She smirked. "I've been on the receiving end of that a lot." Which was actually a complete and total lie. She had actually never been on the receiving end of this, at least as far as she knew. She had always been the one caught up in emotions that robbed her of her ability to think straight, while the object of her obsession was, at best, completely unaware.

"I suppose my personal experiences with this sort of thing are limited," James admitted. "So what are the indicators of feelings running deeper than a merely physical attraction?"

Jessie froze, now cornered in her lie, because truth be told she barely had any more of an idea than James had. "Um—well—romantic love, right? That's something that, even when you strip away all of the physical things, you still want to be with this person. You don't want to see them come to harm. You want to see them succeed. And… and you can't imagine your life without them. When you map out your future, they're always a part of it."

There was silence for a few moments, and Jessie allowed herself to breathe easier. Not only had she talked her way out of that one, she felt satisfied with her answer. From what little she knew about romantic love… yes, that was it. That was what she was striving for with some unknown stranger. And James's silence surely meant that he was processing and understanding this, too.

But then he took in a very shaky, uneven breath, and looked at her with the most apologetic eyes she had ever seen on him (and that was definitely saying a lot). "But, Jessie…"

No buts no buts NO BUTS because I KNOW what is going to follow a 'but'! TAKE IT BACK PLEASE!

But of course he didn't. "…what you just said is exactly how I feel about you."

"Well you know what? You're just hopelessly confused," Jessie spat out defensively. "You're caught up in the moment and not thinking straight. It's just like I said—"

"I've actually been feeling this way for awhile now," James admitted softly. "Long before tonight's events took place."

"You can't!" Jessie felt her voice rise to hysterical levels, even though her heart felt as though it was melting. She had just made the biggest blunder of her life. Of all of the people out there who should have fallen for her charms and all-around incredible persona, the only person she managed to snare was the one person she shouldn't have. Except she hadn't. He was just mistaken, that's all. "Look, what I just said there was a guide. An outline. Real romantic feelings aren't just logical like that! You also have to have this rush, this feeling like the world around you's just falling away and you're falling with it, and… you…"

"And you just feel warm inside," James finished. "Your heart is overflowing with emotions and you feel like it's on the verge of bursting with every beat."

"I thought that was heartburn," Jessie blurted out without thinking.

And that right there blew a hole through her defenses, as that annoyingly maudlin part of her was whispering no, no it's not.

"You… feel it too?" James asked incredulously, his voice hardly above a whisper, his eyes wide and glimmering with newly forming, happy tears.

"NO!" Jessie shrieked, more from desperation than in answer. She leapt to her feet, eyes blazing with fury, and James half-stumbled, half-crawled away from her in terror. "You don't know anything! Anything! This—this was a huge mistake, and—and you cannot be saying what you're saying. You—it wasn't supposed to be you," she finally finished helplessly. "It was never supposed to be you! I've made a horrible mistake!"

She nearly broke down in tears from what she'd said… or more truthfully, from James's reaction—the tears that had been welling in his eyes were starting to gush out, but they were no longer happy tears. "Jessie… I… I'm sorry, really—"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! If you were really sorry you wouldn't have said anything and wouldn't have confused me like this, dammit!"

"I think I needed to say something," James protested feebly, "because even if I didn't you would have figured it out anyway. You and I both know that I can't lie to you."

Jessie spluttered for a second or two, unable to counter that. "Okay, fine, point taken. But still—you need to learn, starting now! It was never supposed to be you!"

James's eyebrows narrowed angrily as he somewhat clumsily pushed himself to his feet. "Well, a lot of good that does now! If you really didn't want this, maybe you shouldn't have flirted with me all the time which aroused these feelings in me in the first place!"

"Oh please, spare me! You know as well as I do that even if I hadn't done any of that, you'd still feel…" Her voice finally dropped down, all of her anger replaced by a small, quiet realization of truth. "…you know. This." She awkwardly turned her head away from him, but kept her eyes looking in his direction.

It took only a second or two for James's irritation to vanish as well. "Yes," he answered simply and quietly, disconsolate, his shoulders sagging.

Jessie turned her eyes away from him as well, feeling them well up with tears. Part of her wanted to say "I'm sorry" (almost foreign words to her tongue); another part was screaming at her for lashing out at him so irrationally (all he did was admit that he cares about you, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!); and a third part that was quickly being overshadowed by the other parts was frantically protesting that there was nothing irrational about her behavior at all, after all, it was never supposed to be him, remember?!

Right now, though, she was really wishing that it was.

But no. It couldn't. Someday, someday soon, she was going to meet some guy and completely sweep him off his feet. And he was going to sweep her off her feet. He was going to be strong and handsome and completely charming. He would shower her with gifts, speak the most perfect romantic lines to her, and be friggin' amazing in bed. And he'd whisk her off to some place where she didn't have to live as a petty criminal day by day just to get by. He'd see to it that she was well cared to, that she'd never want for anything ever again. And if she ever told him she was leaving him (Jessie was honest with herself and knew that her temper would flare up enough that this was a definite possibility), he'd fall to his knees and beg her to stay, declaring that he could never live without her. Yes, this was who it was supposed to be. And she'd find him. Someday soon, she'd find him.

"You're right," James blurted out, breaking the silence. Surprised, Jessie looked back at him. His eyes were now dry, but his cheeks still bore the tearstains from earlier. "It's not supposed to be me. I know you want someone who's… not me. And I know I'll never be everything that you need. I can't control how I feel about you, but I can control whether or not I act on those feelings." And he smiled, with such an odd disconnect from his words and even tone that Jessie was almost too taken aback to hear what he said next. "So we're going prepare and rehearse like hell for your next showcase. And you're going to dominate it! You're going to be such a sensation that any guy watching will be clamoring for you! And we're going to find that one that's perfectly right for you. There's no way he can resist you. We're going to find you the perfect guy!"

Jessie blinked, utterly flummoxed.

"It's the perfect plan, isn't it?" James said, sounding almost excited. "No better opportunity to find your Mr. Right!"

"What the hell?" Jessie finally managed to get out.

"You don't think it's the perfect plan?"

"No, I think 'what the hell?' You tell me how you feel about me, you cry over me, and suddenly you're just willing to hand me off to some other guy?" Much to her dismay, Jessie felt angry tears begin to well up in her eyes. So much for James being the only one to shed tears this night. "Yeah, I was right, wasn't I? You don't give a shit about me. There's nothing there at all! How can you claim to have fallen for me and then just talk about hooking me up with someone else?"

"Because that's what you want," James answered, looking a mixture of confused and crestfallen.

"But—but won't that break your heart?"

"I'm used to it," James admitted.

Jessie had never realized how much guilt one could feel until that precise moment.

"Besides," James added softly, "you being miserable would break my heart even more. I'll do anything to make sure you're happy. It seems like this is the best way to do that right now."

Tears were still running down Jessie's face, but her emotions were flipping and changing all over the place.

No, it wasn't supposed to be him, because he had just said the exact wrong thing right there. He was supposed to beg for her to stay, wasn't he? And yet Jessie had never imagined feeling so strongly affected, even in her most outlandish fantasies. And as the world silently fell apart around her, enough pieces clicked back into place with a simple realization that she couldn't believe she'd never grasped before. Loving someone so much to want them to stay was an easy thing. Loving someone so much that you'd let them go? That was something worth hanging on to. This shouldn't have been any new knowledge to her. He had already been willing to do so multiple times in the past. And yet only now was everything coming together. She felt, for the first time, that her eyes were finally opened.

She stood there, tears flowing from her eyes, taking deep breaths and squinting upwards, trying to process the most unexpected surge of emotion and awareness she'd ever felt in her life.

James watched her, desperately attempting to keep from crying again. He clearly shouldn't have told her his plan… no, he shouldn't have even admitted to her his feelings at all. True, he couldn't lie about them and he certainly couldn't change them, but even just voicing them had distressed Jessie far too much. All he wanted was for her to be happy, and he had screwed even that up. Jessie was wrong about him not knowing anything, but he certainly didn't know much, anyway. After all, it had taken him this long to know that his mere presence was a hindrance to her. And to think, for one amazing, fleeting moment, he had thought that she reciprocated his feelings…

That was all the happiness he was ever going to get, he realized. Just a fleeting moment. And if he could do nothing else for Jessie, he was at least going to insure that her own happiness was more than that, even if that meant completely cutting himself from her life.

He opened his mouth to tell her this, but Jessie beat him to it by barking out a short, hoarse laugh.

"It was never supposed to be you," she said, finally looking back at him, tears still in her eyes but her poised devil-may-care grin lighting up her face. "But you know what? Nothing in my life has ever gone the way it was supposed to. And out of all of the wrong turns, the horrible mistakes, the stupid choices I've made, this wrong choice still feels absolutely right. Never in my most outrageous romantic fantasies did I ever think I could feel how you're making me feel right now. And… and everything I said before, about what distinguishes romantic feelings from just a physical attraction, what made you say how you feel about me… it's mutual." Her face softened into a rarely-seen tenderness. "And even if this is the worst mistake I've ever made in my life… well, I've made a lifetime out of making mistakes, and I can tell you that there's never been a mistake I've wanted to make as badly as this one."

James brought his hands to his mouth, the floodgates holding back his tears slowly bursting. "Oh, Jessie…" It was all he could say and all he could think as the words in his brain crumbled into pieces and were washed away from the love pulsating from his heart.

Jessie continued to smile, color rising to her cheeks, still giving him that look she so seldom gave.

They held this gaze for a few long moments.

"Now what?" James asked.

Jessie sighed. "Oh, for crying out loud." She took two long strides to completely cross the distance between them, grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled her to him, and kissed him.

It took only one surprised second for James to wrap his arms around her and kiss her back. She pulled away for a second only to lean in again, and James was ready this time. He leaned in to meet her, wanting nothing more than to savor this moment, savor her… but savoring was becoming gloriously difficult when contrasted with Jessie's fervent urgency. She returned the kiss eagerly, pulling back again to exclaim, "Why didn't you ever tell me you were so kissable?"

"I have to keep some air of mystery, after all," he smirked.

"Oh don't waste time with being charming, I've already fallen for you." She pulled him towards her once more, crushing his lips against hers, hungrily having a taste before breaking away and diving back in against for more.

"Jessie—" James managed to squeak out when he could, "could we please—slow d—"

"No," Jessie growled against his mouth, one hand now lower on his back while the other wrapped around his shoulders. "I have waited too long for this, dammit." Her lips were back on his, her tongue flicking them as if asking for entry, and the hand on his back slunk even lower, firmly grasping his ass.

James gasped. "H-honey, I concur with that completely, but please remember I need a little time to recharge—"

"Do you?" Jessie smirked, rubbing up against him. His cock felt the contact sooner than it should have. Surprised, James looked down to see the telltale bulge in his pants that signified that he had gotten a lot more recharging done than he'd realized.

Oh, to hell with holding back.

Smiling both gleefully and passionately, he exclaimed, "I suppose not!" before yanking her towards him, one hand also finding its way right to her ass, and engulfing her in a kiss. Jessie gave only a little yelp before matching him, her tongue finally completely breaking through, and she pushed against him so forcefully that they both tumbled over, the kiss breaking yet again. James didn't stay detached from her for long, though—in only seconds he had shot back to her, his lips (and tongue) reunited with hers for a few glorious moments before breaking away to taste her jawline.

She gasped out his name and, invigorated, he trailed his kisses down to her neck. She dug the nails of one hand into his back both reactively and possessively as her other hand entangled itself into his hair. He planted kiss after kiss on her neck, desperately wanting—no, needing—to cover every square inch of her body with his lips, both exposed and currently clothed. Growling in either lust or impatience (perhaps both), she yanked his head back up and furiously crushed her lips against his once more, her hands frantically stroking everywhere on his body that they could go. Returning her kiss, he did likewise, their hands brushing past each other every so often, but too engrossed in their kiss to realize. Her hands slid up his shirt to fondle his bare chest, his hands slid down her skirt to grasp her bare ass, and—

SNAP!

The snapping twig stopped them dead in their tracks, and they turned to the sound with stunned surprise, utterly caught in the act. Meowth was also stunned, staring at the spectacle wide-eyed and slack-jawed, completely frozen.

An uncomfortable few moments of silence passed.

Meowth finally broke the standoff by quite literally pushing his jaw up to snap it into place. "Well," he said awkwardly, "I suppose, in retrospect, I shoulda seen this coming a mile away…"

"This isn't what it looks like," Jessie feebly protested.

"It's actually exactly what it looks like," James admitted, abashed.

"No need for explainin'… you're adults, I get it…" Meowth rubbed a paw against the back of his head. "You just shoulda told me you was needing more private time. I'm more than happy to give it to ya!"

"We only just—" James started to explain.

"It's only been tonight—" Jessie spluttered at the same time, "—I mean, not that—"

"—this only started tonight—"

"—this isn't just a one-off thing or anything—not that—"

"—we've both been dealing with this—"

"—you need to know—"

"Enough already!" Meowth shouted, silencing both of his human companions. "Seriously, you guys, I don't need the full voison of events here! You two do what you gotta do, I ain't got no problems with that. Just…"

Despite his proclamation that he was fine with this rather sudden development, Meowth's face clearly wasn't matching his words. He was still unable to smile, his eyes were cautious, and his posture was one full of trepidation. James exchanged a quick worried glance with Jessie before they both turned their full attentions back to Meowth, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

Meowth finally sighed in resignation. "This ain't gonna change things up, is it? I mean, between the three of us."

Jessie cried out "No!" and James cried out "Definitely not!" almost simultaneously.

"This doesn't change a thing, Meowth," Jessie continued reassuringly. "No matter what happens between me and James, we're still the best damn Team Rocket field division—no, the best Team Rocket division, period. All three of us."

"She's right," James agreed. "All three of us. It wouldn't be the same without you."

The relief on Meowth's face was impossible to ignore. "But you're not going to be all over each other when we're on duty and leave all of the doity work to me, are ya?"

"Most certainly not!" James said.

"When we're on duty, we're on duty," Jessie said. "Work and private life will be kept separate, don't you worry about that. Although," she added with a smirk, "you may want to make your nightly excursions a little lengthier from here on out, because when we're off duty…"

"Hey, what did I say about details? Need-to-know basis only, please!" Meowth finally smiled, a completely genuine one. "And like I said, I'm happy to give you two some more poissonal space. Animal magnetism is strong in everyone, even you humans!"

James blushed. "We'll have some semblance of self-control, I assure you—"

"Well, we'll work on it, anyway," Jessie finished, her face also flushing a bright crimson.

"Hey, as long as we ain't on the clock, go crazy," Meowth said supportively. "Seriously, I am really happy for you two…" He stretched out his arms. "Is it completely uncouth to ask for a hug right now? A congratulatory hug, of coise!"

"Oh, Meowth." Jessie smiled warmly, also extending her arms. "I should have known from the start that you'd always have our backs!"

It was James who engulfed both of them into a huge embrace, the other two quickly returning it. "You're the best teammate anyone could ask for!" he blubbered, happy tears streaming down his face.

The Team Rocket trio held their embrace for a few precious moments, before Meowth, still smiling, broke away. "Hey, you two would be nothing without me!" he teased good-naturedly. "Sorry to have interrupted you. I'll leave you both alone now." He winked at them.

"Oh, no need," Jessie sighed. "You rather ruined the mood."

"In the best way possible," James quickly added.

"But still," Jessie confirmed.

"Well, either way, I'm bushed." Meowth yawned and stretched, leaning over so that his forepaws streaked the ground and his back haunches creaked up, almost like any regular old wild meowth would. "Goodnight, loveboids!" With one last smirk, Meowth sauntered off to a pile of leaves some ten-odd yards off, patted the leaves down, and slid down, his tail curling around his body as his eyes fluttered shut almost instantly.

Jessie slid one hand over James's. "Shall we continue, dear?" she purred.

James sighed. He was bushed too, although in the best possible way. "Not tonight," he said apologetically. "I need some time to take this all in."

Jessie frowned. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"Not at all." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "In fact, it's more that I need some time to get used to the fact that everything's going so wonderfully right now."

"It is a strange sensation for the likes of us, isn't it?" Jessie leaned over and pressed her lips to his, for the first time gently instead of urgently. James leaned into the kiss and gave her hand another squeeze while softly stroking the side of her face with his other hand.

It was so quiet, so familiar, so unhurried, and yet James felt an almost even greater rush of emotions from this kiss than their earlier ones.

Jessie finally pulled away. "I suppose we'd better get some rest ourselves." She gave him a wink. "Tomorrow, though… you're mine."

"I'm yours every minute of every day," James answered sincerely.

Jessie smiled warmly. "Hmm… yes you are."

Completely spent, the two of them stretched out on the ground in each other's arms, drifting into sleep, for the first time in a long time with happy dreams.