Hey guys, Jeff here.

So today, in the UK, it is the New Year, so... HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Anyway, I woke up at a very early time - about 4am - and I just don't know why; but I decided to write up this short story up to pass the time, so I present t you all Sleepless Nights - the first story in the New Year. :)

As some of you remember, I planned to do this one-shot, but due to the popularity with A Present For You, this one-shot was 'delayed'.

Anyway, let's get to reading...

As the group is en route to Ash's next gym battle in Anistar City, they decide to rest for the rest out here in the beautiful open fields. Being tired, they were all sleeping soundly; however one person stayed awake – that person is Serena.

'What's the time?' Serena thought as picked up her pink tablet that was lying beside her. 'What?! 03:27am?! Wow that is the earliest I have woken up so far!'

The whole group had been helping Ash train all day – well, mostly Clemont and Serena – helping him perfect his Pokémon's' moves and coming up with any strategies, giving him feedback on how to improve, and having some battles (friendly battles) with him to help him and his Pokémon battle stronger with teamwork – as Ash had received information from Tierno that the gym battle will be a double battle.

The result for this was a tiring day for the group, so the group had decided to take a break before heading out onto the road once more, and all of them had ended up falling asleep. Instead of sleeping in the Pokémon Centre, the group decided to just rest here out in the open fields, because they were just too tired.

That aside, Serena still can't sleep…

She was sat up against a tree, though she found it uncomfortable, she preferred it to sleeping in the ground like Ash and Clemont. She, like Bonnie, sat at opposite ends of the same tree. She spent most of her time just looking up into the night sky, looking into the stars and the bright moon that was shining above her. She was lost in thought, a lot of things have been clouding her mind recently – her dream of being Kalos Queen, her journey so far, her Ash…

Her Fennekin had fallen asleep on her lap, breathing softly onto Serena's wrist. Using her other hand, she rested it in Fennekin's head lightly and started to brush its light coloured tail. Her Pancham was to the right side of her, leaning against her arm, using it as a pillow. Both of them were tired from having some mock battles with Ash, but also the amount of practises they have done some parts of the day to improve their main performance for the Pokémon Showcase in Anistar City.

She just smiled at her Pokémon, she admired at their determination, their energy, their prowess. She felt so lucky to have met, caught and travelled with these Pokemon with her.

Serena looked to her left, and glanced at the boy whom held her affections, the boy whom she admires so much and cares about so much. That boy was Ash.

Serena loved Ash, she started to like him since he saved her in the forest in Professor Oak's Summer Camp, and now has developed by just travelling with him. She just wanted to tell him every minute of every day, her feelings that she was so affectionate about. If she could tell him how she felt, she felt that her going on a journey would have brought about one good thing, at the very least.

She had no real idea of what she wanted to do, which was part of why she went on her journey. She knew the truth, the truth was that she started her journey, because she saw Ash from the news feed in her television; but she also wanted to find out what she wanted to do in life, rather than doing Rhyhorn Racing.

All that aside, she wanted to tell Ash, if only to rest her own aching heart. But so far, she hasn't even managed to give him a congratulatory hug when he won a gym badge. She has to admit that she had been giving out hints on Ash, trying to make him notice her, but so far no luck has headed her way.

The main reason for stopping and just not telling Ash up front of her feelings towards him is the fear of rejection, the thing that what most girls who are in love with someone feels. She just can't take it if Ash says anything that would break her heart, her heart that was all focused on Ash.

Serena watched Ash for a while. He slept on his back, with his hat partially covering his face. One of his hands rested on his slightly visible stomach, while the other was carelessly past his head, closer to Serena, facing completely opposite to the way the other arm was.

As he slept, Serena thought about how peaceful he looked right now. Part of her wanted Ash to never wake up, so he could stay at peace like this forever, and she could stare back at him, but quickly realised she wanted Ash to be awake, otherwise she would never get a chance to confess, as she realised that it was the perfect time to do so.

Ash, who was lying quite close to Serena and within arm's reach from where Serena was, was sound asleep; therefore she took her left hand and reached out for Ash's open hand without really thinking about what she is doing. Just before she touched his hand, she realised what was happening, what she was about to do. She considered for a second, and then put her hand in his anyway, wishing to feel his warmth. Ash's hand instinctively closed around Serena's.

Serena went a dark shade of red at this. Her first impulse was to pull her hand back immediately, she felt her heart pumping in racing speeds; but after a few seconds of watching Ash sleeping – to see if he was even sleeping – she decided to simply close her eyes and enjoy the feeling of warmth Ash's hand provided.

Though Ash's hand was only a small percent of his body, Ash's hand gave of such warmth that Serena felt her entire body heart up, though she considered the thought that it might just be the result of her massive amounts of nervousness and apprehension she felt. Her holding Ash's hand to her was having the same effect to her heart as when they went flying with the Sky Trainers school. She could feel her heart beat against her ribcage, and wondered what it would take to calm herself down. When she was flying, it was simple - have two feet on the ground. But this was different. She wanted to feel Ash's warmth too, so she just resigned to sit there.

Suddenly, Serena pulled her hand from Ash's. She then gently moved her Pokémon off of her, stood up and walked down a path, away from the group. As Serena found a fallen log, she decided to sit on it. As she sat there in the open, she held her head in her hands, blushing madly, recounting what had just happened and the reason why she did it out of the blues.

'Why did I do that just now?! I think that luck was on my side and that he was asleep, but what if he wasn't, Serena? You are such an idiot, but at least you touched your crush's hand… that's an achievement, right?' She said to herself as he looked towards the ground. The mere act of touching Ash caused her to blush, almost melt into him. Holding his hand the way she had made her think she was about to have a heart attack, but she found it very satisfying to do so. She then clutched the air around her heart, pressed against her pumping heart before she heard someone walking behind her…

"Serena, is that you?" A voice spoke up behind her that made her jump a bit, as she was a bit startled.

Serena turned around to identify who that person was that called her right now. As she turned around, she felt her beating heart stopped for a second as she looked to see who had called her name. It was her crush, Ash.

He looked a lot more scruffy than usual. His clothes weren't neat, he didn't have his hat on, and his hair was a mess – well, it was not like it was anyway – and he was groggily rubbing one eye. He just looked like someone that had just fallen through a wardrobe in his sleep.

"Ash! What're you doing here?" Serena said, louder than she would have liked, probably out of shock and surprise.

"I was about to ask you the same question as well." Ash asked, sitting to her left, as he let out a loud yawn in doing so.

"I just couldn't sleep… I don't know why, but I just can't sleep." Serena replied as she answered Ash's question and then asking them same one right back at him. "Is it the same for you?"

At that moment, Ash gave Serena an 'I-know-what-you're-doing' look, which Serena thought about – as she felt that Ash thought that she was lying. Technically, she wasn't lying, but it wasn't the reason that she came out here, not in a million years.

"You're saying to me that you came out here because you couldn't sleep? Is that it?" Ash asked as he rubbed his right eye.

"Yeah... I suppose so..." Serena replied very nervously.

"And nothing else?" Ash asked back, trying to get some answers from Serena as he suspected something, but what…

"No..." Serena muttered back.

Ash chuckled and teased, "Why are you lying for, Serena?"

"What do you mean?" Serena said in response as that was she could only say, in her mind.

Ash's right eye opened, and he looked at Serena through the corner of his eye, and gave her a cheeky wink and a soft, warm smile, and mentioned, "I wasn't asleep either, Serena."

"U-um… um…" Serena stuttered as she tried to find an excuse to say to Ash about what she thought Ash was talking about before blushing madly at this. She had one question in her head at this point – he heard her the entire time?

"I heard you speaking about something, something about wishing that I stayed asleep or I woke up?" Ash suggested, confirming her questions and confirming his suspicions, but then smiled as he continued, "And then I felt your hand…"

Serena just can't bear to look at Ash for a second and just went back staring at the ground and said nervously, "U- um... I-I didn't..."

"Hey, I didn't complain, did I?" Ash said rather cheekily as he interrupts Serena from finishing her sentence that then made Serena blush more if that were physically possible. This statement caused Ash himself to blush as well. Brash as he was, that was a bit far even for him.

"Anyway... why did you grab my hand?" Ash asked, now scratching his cheek, something even he did when he was nervous, the densest trainer the world has to offer.

Serena blushed.

Why had she done that? To feel Ash's warmth? Right. But how exactly could she phrase that to Ash without making him suspect her? Her mind began racing, trying to come up with an excuse.

Her first excuse she thought up of was that she fell asleep and must've rolled into his open hand by mistake. Then, she realised that that wouldn't work, seeing how Ash is very suspicious at this point and was awake anyway.

Her second thought was to just come clean... But then she remembered she still didn't use the courage to tell him.

In the end, she just whispered, "I don't know."

She silently cursed herself. She knew this would have been the best chance she had gotten in months to confess to him, but she just didn't have the courage. She felt like a massive coward.

"Are you okay, Serena?" Ash asked, concerned as to why Serena is acting in this way.

"Y-yes… I'm- I'm fine." Serena said with eagerness.

"Come on, Serena." Ash said, sliding slightly closer to her, closing the gap between them. "You can tell me. We've known each other for a long time, since that summer camp back in Kanto, back to where we first met."

"The one you didn't remember me from." Serena muttered to herself. When she found out didn't recognise her after giving Ash's handkerchief back to him after all that time, if it hasn't been for the fact she didn't want to show she was upset and blame himself, combined with the fact she had just watched him lose a gym battle, she would have broken down there and then. It had hurt.

"I'm sorry... I just couldn't remember you..." Ash said apologetically before switching tones into a much more joyful tone, "But now at least I remembered you in the end. Better late than never, I always say."

Serena sighed, and looked towards him slightly, before saying softly, "You know... It hurt, when you said you didn't remember me. But... I just thought of what you always say – 'don't give up 'till it's over'. I thought about that in my head at that point and just forgave you for not remembering me…"

Ash listened intently. So, Serena just continued on what she had to say.

"~when you did remember me... I was... really happy, overjoyed..." Serena went on, unsure of how much more to say.

"The reason I came out here... is that... I just… wanted to be alone to think..." She said as she chose her words carefully. "I couldn't be there, after I~"

"After you did this?" Ash asked with a huge grin on his face. Just then, she felt Ash's warm hand on her own, though it took her a few seconds to realise what was going on. By the time she had, Ash had intertwined their fingers and was smiling at her.

Serena's face went a dark red after that, making her feel slightly embarrassed, yet at the same time, she felt more confident too.

"I came here to... think... about you, mostly..." Serena said, slowly, choosing her words carefully once again. "I just have a lot of things… in my mind… all about you… I wanted to tell~"

At that point, Serena was interrupted by Ash's hand gently touch her cheek, making her look at him. Serena immediately noticed how close their faces were. Ash, who had a neutral expression on his face, which was a rarity for him, lent forward, inch by inch, closing the small gap between them. Serena didn't realise what Ash was doing until their lips met and closed her eyes at the same time.

Then, Serena's eyes shot open, and her face went red. Was Ash kissing her?! Her first instinct was to pull back, purely out of shock. About half a second later, she decided not to, but to relax and lean into Ash. This was something she had been longing for years. She wanted to savour every moment of it.

As Ash pulled out, Serena realised that the kiss lasted for roughly a few seconds, to Serena it had felt like an eternity. She had finally achieved what she wanted to do, to kiss Ash finally – her long time crush.

"What? Why?..." Serena stuttered.

"I've wanted to do that for a while now." Ash said flirtatiously as he retained that huge grin he was displaying in his face beforehand.

"So, have you noticed me giving out hints, then?" Serena asked as she was confused how Ash noticed her feelings towards him – I mean, it's Ash we are talking about here.

"To be honest…" Ash said nervously; nervous about how she will react after he finished what he's saying. "Bonnie actually told me about it…"

"Bonnie?!" Serena said loudly as she was shocked and surprised. From someone so young, she was amazed at Bonnie's knowledge about romance and things along those lines. She did kind of expect that Bonnie would be the first one to notice, since Serena and Bonnie shared this kind of 'sister-to-sister' relationship.

"Anyway, that aside~" Ash said before being interrupted by Serena.

"I love you, Ash." Serena said as she cut off Ash before she even finished her sentence and gave him a peck on the cheek to show her happiness.

Serena wrapped her arms around Ash's arm and snuggled up to him. Their romance hadn't begun the way she would have ideally chosen, or how she dreamed about... but it was fine, at least they are now together and that was the most important aspect in Serena's mind.

Serena began to feel a bit drowsy and started to fall asleep. She was wrapped around Ash's arm at that point and Ash couldn't do anything but look at her sleeping and smiled. "Hah... wish I'd told her sooner." He sighed, happily. He stroked Serena's honey-coloured hair with his other hand, as it was the first time he had had a chance to realise how soft it was, since the Summer Camp they both went to.

He then turned around to look back the way he came, where Clemont and Bonnie were still asleep. He just thought about Clemont and Bonnie's reaction as they saw them here at this fallen log, but he didn't care at this point. He had made Serena happy as well as making himself happy. He was happy with himself, happy that he had told Serena about what Bonnie mentioned to him the other day.

As for Serena, all she could think about was what their future was like and what was waiting for them… but for now, she was perfectly fine where she was…

Well there you have it, guys! Sleepless Nights is done and published!

Hopefully you guys enjoy this story for the New Year, but now I have the story My Little Pikachu to write - which is the sequel to Secret Messengers... (hopefully you read that...) :)

Anyways, I'll see you all in the next story, but also please put your thoughts of this one-shot in the reviews; but also Private Message me for any story suggestions!

So, that's it from me!

See ya! Have a great day! Also, have a great year ahead of you!