A/N chapter one, please tell me what you think. The characters are at least 14 years old.

I don't own Pokemon or any characters from the series.

~enjoy

Ash, Dawn and Brock, are found walking through the forest on a cloudy evening. The clouds are turning a dark grey rapidly and it's getting late.

"We should probably find some shelter soon." Said Brock, as he looked up at the dark clouds above.

"Yeah" agreed Ash, looking at Pikachu on his shoulder for a reassuring nod.

"There looks like a cave over there. " Dawn chimed in pointing ahead with on hand as the other safely secured her piplup.

"Let's go" said ash as the first of the rain drops started to fall.

As they came closer, more rain poured down and they noticed that there were actually two caves, about twenty feet away from each other. They also became aware that there was already a fire in one of the caves. More rain fell as they ran to the opening with light. They came up to the mouth of the small cave, as they looked inside. It was obvious they wouldn't fit in the tiny space.

"It's Paul!" Ash claimed.

Paul silently looked at them standing in the cold rain. The pathetic trainer, the tall breeder and the talkative girl. "What do you want?" Paul said sharply.

"We were hoping to find some shelter out of the rain." Said the breeder.

"There's not enough room for three other people" Said Paul, expressionless.

"Yeah, I realize that now, its fine, I saw another cave close by. Sorry to bother you."

All three left, running to the near by cave. Dawn was slowing down however as the boys ran ahead.

"Hurry Dawn" Said Ash encouraging her to run faster.

'I'm trying' she thought to herself, trying to run while still carrying piplup. Realizing that the extra weight was slowing her, she fumbled around until she found piplub's pokeball. "Piplub return" she said as she hurried to close the gap between her friends.

She arrived at the other small cave moments later, Ash and Brock were already inside. Dawn went inside too, but she was squeezed tightly in the snug spot. There wasn't enough room for all three of them unless they wanted to sleep standing with no fire to warm them. Dawn, being the last one to enter, realized this problem right away and stood back out in the rain. Ash, being clueless, didn't know why she was getting out of the cave.

"There isn't enough room for me" she pouted with a frown, now in the cold rain. Brock, in the back of the cave suggested,

"Why don't you go ask Paul if you can stay in that cave tonight? I'm sure it would be a lot more comfortable."

She nodded, silently, quickly running back to the other cave. 'Great' she thought sarcastically, 'I have to go ask him. What if he says no? Then what will I do?' she stopped her thoughts as she realized that she was close to the light emanating out of cave. She slowed down and walked up to the entrance.

She stood in the front of the cave soaked and shivering. Her hat was so wet it drooped down messing up her already wet hair. Paul looked at her with curiosity, wondering what she was doing here. "...Umm... Paul? She said sheepishly, trying to prepare herself for the harsh rejection. "Do you… um, mind if I come in...?"

Paul looked at her, slightly surprised, though his face didn't show it.

"There wasn't any room in the other... cave... soo..." she trailed off as he just stared at her. He watched her stand there, getting pelted with rain drops, wet, cold, shivering, helpless.

"Whatever" He replied calmly.

Her face lit up with joy and surprise. She didn't expect to be accepted.

Dawn sat down by the fire. She took off her soaking wet hat and put it on the ground to dry. Her back was against the cave wall, just like Paul, and she was shivering, rubbing her hands against her arms to warm her up.

Paul sat there for a moment then seemed overly aggravated listening to Dawn shiver. He looked at her, she was so cold and wet. He reached over to his side and got out a blanket.

"Here" he said as he threw it at Dawn. "Stop shivering noisy girl."

She gratefully took the blanket "Thanks" she said.

No reply.

They sat against the back wall of the cave, watching the rain in silence. Dawn's shivering quieted, but she was still cold. She moved closer to the fire where Paul was. Now they were about one foot away in the small cave.

She took a quick glance at Paul. 'I wonder what he's thinking about.' She thought to herself.

She looked out at the rain, when Paul turned his head toward her, and looked at her with that poker face of his.

Her heart sped up a tad, as she looked at him and asked "what?"

They sat there for a moment of awkward silence before he replied with an expressionless face "why did you come?"

she turned her head a little looking confused. "What do you mean?"

He looked annoying, having to repeat himself "Why didn't you choose to stay with your loser boyfriend?"

At first she was mad at that comment 'Ash isn't a loser!' she thought to her self.

But instead of saying that, she answered with some anger in her voice "Ash isn't my boyfriend! And the only reason I came here was to get out of the rain." she calmed her anger before continuing. "I was the last one to get to the cave so I was the one who came here."

Paul just sat there listening, acting board like he didn't care. Though he was the one who asked the question, so he had to listen to some extent.

Dawn looked out at the rain again, it reminded her of the cold and she got a shiver down her spine.

She moved a little closer to Paul who was still closest to the fire. She was sitting with her knees to her chest and back against the wall. She still had the blanket around her shoulders and her arms were wrapped around her knees. She sat there tired and trying to stay warm, while Paul had his usual pants and jacket and wasn't bothered by the cold.

She slowly closed her eyes, listing to the humming of the rain fall. Every now and then she would open her eyes, trying to stay awake. But she was tired, and within minutes she was in a light sleep.

Paul quietly turned his head to look at her, confused at how she could fall asleep so quickly. 'Maybe she's not as talkative as I thought' At that moment she unconsciously leaned over toward Paul and rested her head on his shoulder.

Paul just sat there, a little surprised that the sleeping girl had her head on his shoulder. 'What is she doing? Is she really asleep?' he thought to himself.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to wake her up. Even though she was lying on him, he wasn't mean enough to wake her, or was it because of something else. Despite this he still didn't want her lying on him.

He tried to move away a little so she would remove her head, but that only resulted in Dawn moving closer and putting her arms around his waist. 'Great, now what?' He thought as he rolled his eyes. Her head was gently resting on his shoulder and he could hear her soft breathing.

He was frozen. Part of him wanted her to move and stay away, but for some reason, most of him didn't.

'Why don't I mind?' He looked back at her and thought, 'she's so calm… peaceful…' she was breathing slowly and her eyes were gently closed.

'She's not so talkative when she's asleep, she's actually pretty…' His eyes widen with surprise of that last thought then went back to his angry expression.

'Snap out of it Paul! What are you thinking? She's the ignorant partner of that pathetic trainer and his weak pokemon. She has no interest in you, even if she is lying on your shoulder, she's asleep, and she doesn't even know what she's doing. It doesn't mean anything. She doesn't mean anything.' He practically yelled at himself, but yet, he was a little saddened by his rationalizing.

He looked back outside, the rain was falling harder, and his fire was slowly loosing its flame. He tossed in the last log using his free arm, being careful not to wake up the bluenette.

It was getting darker, and the rain was starting to come down harder. He was getting a little colder. He zipped up his jacket a little, moving her hair so it wouldn't get stuck in the zipper. Her hair was soft and smelled like lavender, he couldn't help but notice.

She moved a little bit to get more comfortable.

'I feel like a freaking teddy bear' he thought, holding perfectly still, half hoping she would remover herself from his shoulder. When she didn't, he was annoyed but also relived, and then he was annoyed at himself for feeling relived.

After a while the fire kept dying and the rain continued to pour. He silently cursed himself for giving up his only blanket to her. He was getting cold again, as well as tired, it was late.

He thought about taking back the blanket but a few minutes later he saw her shiver the tiniest bit. He figured that she needed it more then him.

He was watching his fire die down little by little, despite that he kept poking it with a stick to try and keep it going.

He looked over at the girl hugging him, he was cold and she was so warm… 'What are you thinking? What's wrong with you?' he thought, lecturing at himself still looking at her, but then he somehow realized that he didn't care, and he went with his need for warmth over what his brain was telling him.

After a few more minutes of just sitting there, he decided that it was time for him to go to sleep, as he yawned.

He moved his arm that was already behind her and placed it around the blanket that was on her shoulders. immediately feeling warmer. She didn't move, instead, he saw her give out a small smile.

Paul smirked, 'figures' he thought, and then he leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes.

And they stayed like that for a long time…

A/N ok, so chapter one is done. tell me what you think, and please give me any advice and/or ideas you have

many thanks :) Comment away!