"We've got mail!" said James in a singsong voice, coming over to Jessie and Meowth. "Look!" He held out a letter.

"How did you get that?" asked Jessie, sitting up and squinting suspiciously at James.

"Some other Team Rocket field agent came over and gave this to me when I was out walking!" James handed her the letter. "Jessie, it's addressed to you."

"Okay…" Jessie ripped open the envelope and pulled out a piece of purple paper.

"What does it say?" asked Meowth.

Jessie cleared her throat and began to read. "'Dear Jessie… We at Team Rocket have been planning a fashion show for our female members to partake in. You are hereby invited to come and take part. We will see you there!'…Hey, it's in two days!"

"Wow, congrats, Jess!" said Meowth. Jessie smiled at him. "Thanks, Meowth!" She looked over at James. "Isn't this great, James?"

"No!" James shouted. He turned on his heel and walked away.

Jessie stared after him, her jaw dropping. James was always so sweet… she had never seen him like this before.

"What was that?" she asked, looking over at Meowth, who shrugged.

"Sometimes I just don't understand that boy." replied Meowth.

"I'm going to go see what happened." said Jessie. She stood up and followed James.

She found the blue-haired boy a few minutes later. He was sitting on the ground, leaning up against a tree and staring off into the distance.

"James, what was that!?" Jessie said in a slightly frustrated voice.

"What was what?" His voice sounded unfriendly, another thing Jessie had never thought was possible.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy for me?" asked Jessie accusingly. "I'm really excited about this, James!"

"Sure." he said. "Go have fun in your stupid little fashion show, Jessie." And he stood up and walked away from her.

Jessie watched him go with a mixture of surprise, hurt, and anger. Turning away from James, she headed off in the opposite direction, not even caring that she was going farther and farther away from their campsite. She needed time to cool off.

All she knew was that James was making her a lot less excited about going to her fashion show.

"Meowth."

James covered his ears irritably, waiting for Jessie to stop talking.

"Meowth."

The blue-haired agent grimaced, pressing his hands harder against his ears. Jessie's voice was oddly whiny and plaintive, and he was trying to sleep.

"Meowth!"

"Jessie, I was sleeping!" complained Meowth.

"Meowth…"

That was it. That was it! James sat up in his sleeping bag. "Jessie, I was sleeping, too!"

"Oh, good. You're awake, Jimmy." said Meowth sleepily. "Now you can deal with her." He went back into his sleeping bag.

James looked over at Jessie with an angry look in his green eyes. "What do you want, Jessie?"

Jessie held his gaze for a second before doing what James never would have guessed. She burst into tears.

James's eyes widened. "Jessie, what…"

"James, d-don't yell at me!" she wailed. "I…I don't feel so good… and I don't want you y-yelling at me…"

James stared uncomprehendingly at her.

"Oh, right." she said. "As if you'd care! You don't… you don't care about me at all!" She turned away.

"Jessie, what are you talking about?" James had finally found his voice. "Of course I care about you!"

"It didn't seem like it yesterday…" sniffled Jessie.

James bit his lip. Now that he thought back, he hadn't been so nice to her. "J-Jessie…" he began. "I was jealous."

She turned to him, her eyes wide. "Jealous?"

"You know how much I like clothes and dresses and things, Jessie." James said. "And I know that… well, not many other boys like what I like. So I know that the boss wouldn't exactly think of sending an invitation to me. But I'm not going to be jealous anymore, Jessie. I'm happy for you."

Jessie blinked slowly. "Really?"

"Really." He smiled at her.

Jessie smiled too. She crawled over to him and hugged him. As James went to stroke her hairspray-filled red hair, he accidentally felt her forehead. He gasped.

"Jessie, you're burning up!" he said. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I told you…" she said. "I don't feel so good, James."

James sat back, a little worried. It was very rare that a member of Team Rocket got hurt or sick, but when they did, they never had any money for medicine. They were lucky that it had never gotten serious. "You should probably go back to bed, Jessie… especially if you want to be better before the fashion show."

Jessie nodded. "Okay… will you… James, will you sit with me?"

James smiled. "Of course I will." As Jessie wriggled back into her sleeping bag, James sat down on top of his own sleeping bag. "I bet you're going to look really pretty in the fashion show."

"Thanks, James… I bet if you were there… you'd look pretty too." A few seconds later and James heard little soft snores coming from her sleeping bag.

James smiled. Since Jessie had to stay in bed today, there was nothing they could do unless he and Meowth went after the twerps without Jessie, but then they ran the risk of leaving their sick friend alone if she needed help. So he decided to crawl back into his sleeping bag.

But he just couldn't sleep, thinking about Jessie and her fashion show. What if she was worse in the morning? James knew how important this was to Jessie, and he also knew how stubborn she could be. Nothing would stop her. Not even if it killed her.

The next morning, the day of the fashion show, James found that his worries were true. Jessie's slight temperature had turned quite high. James was actually worried.

"Jessie," he told her in the morning. "You are not going to that fashion show!"

Jessie's face was very pale, except for her cheeks, which were bright red with fever. "You can't stop me!" she said, stumbling away from her sleeping bag. She had to stop for a moment to cough, and then she collapsed. James darted forward and grabbed her before she hit the ground.

Jessie stopped coughing. She looked up at James and saw the concerned- and more than a little worried- look on his face. She wrestled out of his arms, making her drop to the ground. "James, leave me alone! I'm going to go, no matter what!"

"Jessie, listen to me!" James exclaimed. "You're being stupid!"

"Did you just call me stupid?!"

"No, but I will if you go to that fashion show!" James said. "Look, Jessie… this isn't worth it. If you go, you're just going to make yourself worse. And you know we don't have money for medicine!"

"James, I don't need medicine. I'm not sick!" Jessie said.

James snorted. "As if, Jessie! You're burning up, and I am not about to let you go!"

"James, I'm fine!" shouted Jessie. The effort of yelling made her cough again, which contradicted what she had just said.

James watched her with a mixture of anger, frustration, and a lot of worry. He didn't want her to get any worse. "Jessie, please. I'm begging you. Get back into bed… I'm sure the boss wouldn't mind if you had to cancel."

"Yes, but I mind!" Jessie said, and James was surprised to see tears in her eyes. That was the one thing about Jessie when she was sick; she was very prone to crying. And James hated seeing Jessie cry, because it made him want to cry.

"I'm going to that fashion show, no matter what you say!" Jessie finished.

It hurt James to say it, but he managed to say, "Over my dead body!" He didn't want to say it; he wanted Jessie to be happy, but in a situation like this, Jessie's wellbeing was his first and foremost priority.

Jessie's blue eyes welled with tears. "Fine then." she said angrily. She crawled back over to her sleeping bag and went inside.

James sighed in relief. "Finally…" he murmured. "I'll go get you some water, Jessie."

"I don't want to talk to you."

James felt tears begin to form in his eyes. "Well, f-fine!" He turned away, wiping the tears from his eyes with his glove. He walked away.

A few minutes later, James found himself sitting by the little lake nearby, skipping stones upon the smooth surface. Every few seconds, he'd wipe his eyes again. If Meowth or Jessie happened to come by, he didn't want them to see that he'd been crying. Especially Jessie.

Jessie. James sighed. He felt so bad for her. She wanted this so badly, and now she couldn't. It was so sad. He wished she could go to her fashion show… he wasn't even thinking of himself at this point.

Suddenly, an idea began to form in his head. If Jessie couldn't go to her fashion show… he would bring it to her.

James went over to the sleeping form of Jessie later that day. It was starting to get dark, so he almost tripped over her. That made the second time in a few days.

He crouched down and gently shook her. "Jessie? Wake up."

Jessie looked up. Her hairspray had come out a little, so her hair was still in the usual shape, but there were strands of hair escaping. She looked up at him and said, her voice sounding sickly but still filled with anger, "What do you want, James?"

"Come on, Jessie. Get up." he said with a smile. "I have something to show you." He reached down and, with a bit of difficulty, scooped her up with one arm under her knees and the other under her head.

She looked at him questioningly, but didn't say anything. James carried her a few minutes into the forest.

"Where are we going?" she asked, and coughed.

"You'll see." replied James.

What Jessie didn't know was that he and Meowth had set up something very special for their friend. They had spent hours working on their own little fashion show, just for Jessie.

When he finally got to the clearing, he said, "Jessie, look."

She looked up and gasped. Between two trees, James and Meowth had strung a banner that read Jessie's name in huge letters with a little hand drawn picture of her beside it. The banner was ripped near the edge, so there was a row of tape running along the side of it.

In a semicircle around the 'stage', there were little piles of stones in slightly humanoid positions. There had to be about thirty. One of them had fallen onto another, and the two had scratched 'Butch and Cassidy' in the ground with arrows pointing to the fallen figures.

Meowth sat in one of the trees, shining a flashlight onto the stage like a spotlight. And, sitting in the very middle of the stage, was a little handwoven crown, made of flowers, branches, and leaves.

"What is all this?" asked Jessie, looking around.

"It's for you." said James. He went over and carefully placed Jessie on the stage, and then he went and sat in the audience amongst all the rock people. And then he picked up the little crown and placed it on Jessie's head, feeling the heat from her fever radiating from her skin.

Jessie looked over at James and smiled so happily that James couldn't help but smile himself.

"This is better than that stupid fashion show that the boss was going to put on." Jessie said.

"Really?" James said, surprised. "…Well, I'm just glad you're happy."

Jessie reached up and hugged him. "Thank you, James." she murmured, her arms hanging loosely around his neck.

James's smile widened. "You're welcome." he said. "Now… why don't you put on a show for us, Jessie? Just don't overexert yourself!"

Jessie nodded, and James went back into the audience. Meowth jumped down from the tree and sat next to James.

With the late evening darkness beginning to settle around them, it was perfect.

Jessie put on a good show. Although James was exhausted from doing all of the manual work that Meowth was too small to do, he stayed awake through her entire performance. And at the end, Jessie came off of the stage and gave him another huge hug.

"You were good, Jessie…" James murmured sleepily.

Jessie leaned back, beaming. "You sound exhausted, James."

"Yeah, well… I did most of the work in making this." James gestured to their surroundings.

"I still can't believe you did that for me." she said.

"I'd do anything for you, Jessie." he replied.

Jessie smiled. "James, you're so sweet."

"I'm also really sleepy." said James. "Although I'd love an encore, I'd love a nap even more."

Jessie laughed. "Do you have enough energy to carry me back?"

James smiled. "If you really want me to…" He picked her up and slowly made his way back to their camp.

He dropped Jessie onto her sleeping bag. She wriggled inside, and James got into his own sleeping bag.

"Goodnight, James." Jessie called out as he was just closing his eyes.

"Goodnight, Jessie." he replied.

James was happy at the moment. Jessie wasn't mad at him anymore, and soon she would be completely healthy again, and everything would be perfect. They would continue trying to catch Pikachu, and someday, they would. And then they'd get promoted, and get enough money to leave Team Rocket. James would marry Jessie, and… well, at least that was what he hoped.

That was James's dream, but it was not yet his reality. Someday, maybe… but for now, this was where they were.

And James was determined to make the best of it.