"Wouldn't it be nicer to do that rather than read it?" A voice asks. I jump and hit my head on the person's chin.

"Misty, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that." I say as I turn and see her standing behind me. She's keeping her mouth shut and looks as though she's in pain. It takes me a few moments to put two and two together and realize she bit her tongue when I hit her chin. I roll out which causes her to scream. I quickly stand up and move the chair wheel off her foot. "Sorry." I plead and make a chair with my leg and drag her down to sit.

"That hurt." She bleats and turns away from me in a pout.

"I'm sorry Misty, you just surprised me." I pleaded again. She turns back to me with a grin.

"You were so enveloped in imagining the story?" She asks and lets out a chuckle when I blush. "I just came in to see why you hadn't come to bed. You do need to get up tomorrow." She chides.

"I know." I frown and stand. "I'll shut down the computer and come in."

"Good, little sleep is bad for you. Of course you could just go into work later." She remarks.

I look over at her. "It's better to work in the morning. Otherwise I would let you sleep in." I answer.

The computer receives what it needs from me and begins to shut down as I walk away with my girlfriend.

*****

I collapse on the bed and stretch until my back pops. Misty presses her back to my front and I wrap my arms around her compliantly.

"Good night Dewdrop." I whisper.

"Good night Ash." She mumbles back, already half asleep.

*******

I awake to noise and Misty shifting in my arms. "You gonna stop that annoying thing?" She complains in my ear.

"If I can have one of my arms." I answer. She shifts again and I manage to pull one arm from her to turn the alarm off.

"Why do you have to have that thing wake us up every morning at six? Can't you get up at a reasonable time?"

"Like noon." I tease as I pull myself from the bed. Misty is not a morning person. It takes about an hour and two cups of coffee for her to begin to get ready for the day.

"That sounds nice." She mumbles and pulls the sheets tighter around herself, already beginning to fall back asleep.

I get dressed and lean over her form. "Sleep well, my angel." I whisper and kiss her cheek. She mumbles something and I smile. She's asleep again.

I leave the house, gathering up my Pokèmon and other things I need to work. "Bye." I call to the almost empty house.

******

I lean back in the chair and rub my eyes as I finish another story. Pikachu, Bayleef, Togepi and Politoid are sitting, watching some show on TV.

I sigh as the song finishes on the radio I'm listening to and hear the DJ announcing the studio number to call to place a request. For some reason I find myself grabbing a piece of paper and pencil and writing the number down. I glance at the clock, 10:36, 'Misty will be heading home about now' I tell myself. The thought brings back memories of the previous night in the same room. "I should request it." I mumble to myself as I take off the headphones.

I stand up, making sure no one's behind me, and move towards the phone. I dial the number and wait for the busy signal. It doesn't come instead, ringing, and then someone picks up. "Hey it's Brocko. Leave your request at the sound of the tone." I have to pull my ear away from the phone as the 'beep' screeches through the receiver. "I'd like to make a dedication to my girlfriend and I hope she won't be angry when I request our favorite song." I say.

"Which song would you like?" He answers.

I take a moment to answer in surprise. "Uh, Hero from the Spiderman soundtrack."

"It's playing." He answers and changes lines.

I hang up and rush to my walkman and put it on. Sure enough 'Hero' is playing. My request got put on the air. I nearly begin hyperventilating until Pikachu notices and thundershocks me. "Thanks." I cough.

******

The computer is getting boring, I've worked on the next chapter of my story, played two games, checked every website I usually do on a daily basis. Bored. I nearly jump again when I feel arms encircle me from behind.

"Hello." I sputter. "Have a good day at work?"

"Good and work don't belong in the same sentence." She answers.

"Did you hear it?" I ask simply.

She nods and the smiles on both our faces grow. "Thank you, it made my day better. Well, night." She says with a giggle.

I stand and pull her into my arms. "Good." I say as we hug.

Togepi, of course, calls for attention from her mother and 'mommy' can't refuse her baby, so we separate and Pikachu leaps onto my shoulder as Misty bends down to pick up Togepi.

She collapses onto the futon we dare to call a couch with almost a mournful sigh.

"Work was that bad?" I ask, sitting next to her.

"Not exactly work." She replies. "It's the 'friendly talk' we have in the break room."

"How so?" I question, wondering how gossip can get a woman feeling down.

"You know what they think of the two of us living together while we're not married."

I almost release a sigh. I know all to well what the people think about us, I am a celebrity in the world. "But I do have a remedy." I whisper to Pikachu, who giggles.

"What?" Misty asks, noticing our conversation.

"Nothing." I answer, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Sure. I think I'm just going to head straight to sleep." She smirks.

"Why? You don't have to work tomorrow. You can sleep in like you always wish you could."

"Yea, I just want to sleep. Get this day over with."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow when I get home." I answer and she fixes me with a confused look. "I'll have Pikachu wake me up." I explain. "Not With Thundershock!" I add as I sense Pikachu replacing his smile with an evil grin, which quickly fades.

Misty nods, obviously already half asleep. "Alright." She calls and leaves the room carrying Togepi.

*****

The next day I spend most of my time thinking of my plan, to the point that Lance and Bruno ask me to go home. "I can't, it'll mess up the situation." I plead. They look at me curiously but don't complain. My Pokèmon can battle for themselves and will listen to almost anyone who I consider a friend.

I say almost for Charizard. I may have gained his respect, and he'll listen to Misty too, but not even Brock can tell him to do something he doesn't want to without getting burnt and he doesn't pay much attention to anyone when he's in an important battle.

I manage to pull my attention to the present for the length of the training. Bruno and Lance call good luck to me as we split. I answer that I don't need luck. It's become my catch phrase. I never need luck, but I think the only reason I'm still alive is because of my friends and luck, for them too. Every time I think my luck just has to have run out, something happens and I'm saved by luck. Maybe I inherited the luck from my father. I heard he didn't get much of a chance to use his other than meeting my mother.

I know my mind is to preoccupied to drive safely so I ask Charizard to fly the car home and begin to walk. Pikachu, Quilava, Bayleef, Phanphy, and Larvitar walk alongside me and Noctowl is perched on Bayleef's back, they all enjoy the feeling of walking again, it has been a long time since my journey ended.

That's what started this. I pull the box out and gaze at it, trusting Pikachu and the others to warn me if I need to move. I don't worry about all the Pokèmon noticing, I've already told them I was going to and was just waiting for the right time, and all of them are fine with it. Even Bayleef, though Pikachu told me she needed some convincing.

They call out as the house comes into view and I rush to hide the box in my pockets. I open the door slowly and begin to call out, "Misty, I'm home." when all the Pokèmon rush forward, pushing the door open and destroying any surprise I had.

"Hi." Misty calls from the kitchen. I shudder as that thought comes through. There's a reason I do all the cooking for us.

I hesitantly move towards the room and I'm surprised to find her scrubbing dishes in the sink. "Where's Misty?" I joke.

"Ha Ha." She answers and pulls her hands from the soapy water and flicks them at me. I grab a towel and move to meet her in the middle of the room. We meet and, after allowing her a second to dry her hands, kiss. "You're home late." She chides happily when we separate.

"Yea yea." I answer. "I got home in plenty of time to make dinner."

"You know I wait all week for the weekend for two reasons. I can sleep in as long as I want, and I get you to cook for me." She laughs and grins. "One if you really want to know." She answers the look on my face.

We hear a crash followed by a roar and Misty smirks. "Had Charizard fly the car home again?" She teased.

I nod and run out to the driveway, sighing as I see the state the vehicle is in. "Charizard." I groaned. He looked at me with something between apology and his usual anger. I don't even bother continuing the lecture as I pull his Pokèball from my belt. "Return."

I return to the kitchen and move to help Misty finish. I do need her out of the kitchen to execute my plan.

We quickly finish and Misty groans as she dries her hands. "I hate having wrinkly hands." She groans.

"Yea, their no fun but at least they go away quickly." I answer and lead her into the family room. "I'm going to make a special dinner for the two of us. No peeking." I order.

She gives me her puppy dog eyes, but I had planned for that. Pikachu's electricity hits me just in time to prevent me from falling into her spell. He's earned a glare from her and a trip to the market from me.

"No." I answer and Noctowl follows me to the doorway. Misty tries to follow, but thanks to Noctowl, she is blocked. He's created a mixture of reflect and confusion so that she can't see what the room really looks like and she can't move into the room. I've trained him in using it so that Noctowl only has to refresh the activation every hour or so. He'll refresh it every half hour just to throw her off though. Though it's mean and I love her, I'm kinda hoping she'll try to restrain Noctowl and walk through what she thinks is an open doorway.

She doesn't though. I check every few minutes and see her sitting comfortably, if anxiously, watching the show the assorted Pokèmon have forced her to watch.

*

I smile as the last setting is placed. Trays with bouquets of tulips on them arranged in the corners of the room, a few candles, the non-scented kind, placed on the counter and the table, a flowery tablecloth my mom had given me when I told her I was moving out, the fine restaurant style place settings, everything was perfect for the mood. I only needed the food to finish cooking and everything would be set.

With a quick check to the clock I made the sound of a Hoot-Hoot, one of the few that I could copy that Noctowl would recognize. It was our signal that it was time to weaken the wall, but be prepared to keep it up should cooking take a bit longer than expected.

*

I smile as the main course comes out of the oven. Cooked to perfection. I give the final signal and see Noctowl move and slowly break down the wall. I light the candles as Misty notices Noctowl taking a long time and comes to investigate.

I can't help but grin like a maniac when the smells and the scene strike her eyes. She's just standing there, with the Pokèmon behind her, and I'm grinning. Not exactly the way I first pictured the scene but it's a good start. With a shooing motion to the Pokèmon, I lead Misty to her chair, where she finally returns to the moment.

"Ash, you didn't have to do all this." She whispers as I bring in the dishes.

"I know." I answer simply as we fill our plates. We're quiet as we eat, minus her moans and mutterings about how the food is even better than usual.

When we both sit back, full from the meal, we're surprised when vines come from the kitchen and take the plates away. 'Bayleef must feel like helping' I muse.

"Ash, why?" She asks and it seems like she's still mystified that this is happening at all. And the next thing won't help much.

"In preparation for this." I answer and move to her side.

She seems to be even further out of it as the realization hits her. I only grin and wait for her to return.

She finally does as the candles get about halfway down. She's still gaping, but there's understanding in her eyes. "Will you marry me Misty?" I finally ask. As I say this, my mind realizes that I have never said those three words to her. "I love you." I add.

Misty continues to stare down at me for a few seconds before knocking me over when she hugs me. "Yes." She whispers. I can tell she's crying. I also hear other tears being sniffed back and set a mental note to remind them what 'alone' means. Turning my attention back to the woman in my arms and smiled.

"Misty." I whisper. She lifts her head from my shoulder in wonder. I press our lips together and kiss her. She returns the kiss and tries to pull me tighter. "We'll always be together now." I whisper and she nods happily.

____________________________________________

A nice little slightly AU get together fic. I'm surprised it came out so well. At the beginning it was a completely AU fic, causing me to punish my newly named muse. Now that it's carried so well into a full story I'll have to beg and plead for her to help me finish the next chapter of 15 Steps, my only multi-part fic currently posted and I'm having trouble working with what I need to get in to follow the story I have written.

Please R & R if you have something to say. Good or bad, I really don't care. And if you liked this, maybe you'll like my other fics. Just click on my name and glance through them.