Author's Note: Hey everyone! Roze here; I've finally returned after many months (years?) on hiatus. After reading numerous amounts of beautifully written fanfictions recently, I was suddenly motivated beyond words to write again! For those of you who happen to be strict when it comes to certain shippings, I only ask of you to keep an open mind. You're free to have opinions, but my mind works in disastrous wonders, so whatever chaotic situation happens, will happen. Just like how life works. Rated T for language and some minor(ish?) adult themes. I'm not sure if I'll up it to M yet. Enjoy~

Close to You

By EternityRoze262

x - x - x

Prologue

When Gary heard a distant rapping coming from his front door, the last thing he wanted to do was stop in the middle of his make-out session to see who it was.

"Mmm- Did you invite some other woman over besides me?" asked the woman lying beneath Gary. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer, hoping he wouldn't let that uninvited guest interrupt their session.

"No one that I know of," the young man answered with a smirk. "It doesn't matter anyways. Whoever it is will go away." He placed another soft kiss on her neck, ignoring the heavy knocking.

"Gary Oak! Open the door this instant! I'm not leaving until you do!" A female muffled voice sounded from the front door.

"Ugh, she sounds pretty desperate. You sure she's gonna leave?" the woman noted in annoyance.

"Shhh," Gary reassured as he trailed kisses down to her chest, making her sigh in delight. However, the constant knocking wouldn't cease. Instead the noise began to transform from knocking to pounding. Hell, by the way the woman was pounding anyone would have expected the door to already be broken down.

"GARY OAK!" the same voice repeated, this time as a menacing shout.

With a loud sigh, the young man slowly pulled himself away from the attractive women, never laying his eyes off of her. "I'll be back, sweetheart. It's probably another woman who's madly in love with me," he stated confidently, stepping onto the floor to search for his pants.

"Should I come with you and let her know we're busy?" the woman prompted, crawling to the edge of the bed to better meet his gaze.

"Don't," he insisted giving her a peck on the lips. "I'll take care of this quickly and then we can continue." He found his pants and sloppily pulled his legs through them, adjusting them to his fit as he scampered down a flight of stairs to reach the front door. In one swift movement, Gary pulled open the door to find a toddler being shoved into his arms.

"Here. Take her. I'm leaving her in your hands to care for," the woman spoke in such a rush that Gary almost didn't catch what she was saying. His automatic response led him to hold the child in his arms. He had no time to attempt refusing her request before she pushed a huge baby bag towards him. "I left a brief note in here with some information. All her health papers, birth certificate and everything are in here. I'll be back some time later to explain more to you-"

"Hold on-!" Gary finally managed to get out, flabbergasted to find his ex-girlfriend standing before him looking like she hadn't been sleeping properly for the last few weeks. "You're leaving me to take care of her? Do you realize who you're asking this to?!"

"Gary, please! I know we didn't exactly end on good terms, but when it came down to it, you were the only one I knew who had a good heart to raise her well!"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Gary retorted in a disbelieving voice.

"Language, Oak! There's a three-year-old here!"

"And if you leave her with me, she's just going to be learning more of these words!"

"She will not!" the woman fired back with a sharp glare. "Look, I understand this is a huge shock being last minute and all, but it's really complicated right now and I can't stay here too long. I'll come back tomorrow to explain as much as I can, okay?"

"What? No! Take her back!" Gary argued, aggressively handing the child back into the mother's arms. At this attempt, the mother backed away and started to head back to her parked car. Gary lowered the toddler to the ground and took a few steps out the door. "Hilda!" The woman named Hilda reached the door to the driver's seat, hesitating slightly before turning around to face her previous lover. "I don't know what you're thinking by handing her off to me. I can't take care of her! If you're not back by tomorrow to take her back, I'm throwing her out."

Hilda raised the corner of her lips into a sad smile, never moving from her spot. "Love her as you used to love me." Her tender eyes lifted to take a last glance at her daughter staring back at her worriedly from the doorway. "Be a good girl, Evelyn," she said in a low voice. Without a further delay, she hopped into her car, pulling out of Gary's driveway before he could argue any more.

When her car was no longer in sight, Gary shut the door behind him, taking notice of the three-year old standing before him. The two strangers stared at other in silence, each properly taking in the other's appearance for the first time. Despite the huge responsibility Hilda had just given him, he couldn't help but feel somewhat drawn to the little girl in front of him. She closely represented her mother: Her hair the same chestnut color, slightly wavy to her shoulders. A warm mixture of blue green eyes looked up to him in curiosity. Innocence radiated off her, something Gary had lost while growing up. It took him a couple seconds before he realized her small, delicate figure was shaking ever so slightly, and he assumed she must have been scared to death by the previous events.

Gary feigned clearing his throat as to break the silence. "What's your name, Munchkin?"

"Evelyn," the little girl spoke lightly with a sweet and airy tone to her voice. The way she slightly slurred her words indicated that she was still learning how to speak. Gary only hoped his ex had taught the girl enough vocabulary to be able to converse with her. "Mommy said yer name wus Garry."

"That's right," he replied trying to sound playful, but he was sure even a three-year-old could notice the disinterest in his voice.

"Why you not wearing a shirt?" she asked twisting her head in confusion.

The question stunned him for a second. He had completely forgotten he was shirtless while leaving the bedroom. Of course, at that time he was expecting to find a desperate woman in need of his body, so appearing half-naked would've greatly helped to make the situation run smoother for that case. The scenario he was met with instead took him entirely off guard.

Retaining his calm posture, he made an innocent response. "It was getting hot in here." Gary cursed internally after he said that. If taking care of Evelyn meant he had to censor and limited his inappropriate words and actions, he would just about go insane.

"Garry," the girl started, glancing up at his tall figure. "Are you weally gonna throw me out if- if my mommy does not come?"

Gary instantly regretted yelling that out to Hilda, but he didn't expect the three-year-old to be paying that much attention to their conversation in the first place. With a turn of his head to avoid eye contact, he gave a more reassuring answer. "I don't know yet. We'll see what happens when tomorrow comes."

"Okay," Evelyn simply replied. The two met each other's eyes again and Evelyn flashed him a small smile. Gary wasn't expecting this calm of a reply. Normally toddlers would have already been crying and throwing a temper tantrum, but this girl was surprisingly behaving for now- which was a good thing for Gary. He wouldn't know what to do if she started acting up.

He furrowed his eyebrows, intrigued by her response. "Why are you smiling when your mom just left you to some stranger you don't even know?"

The girl's smile widened. "Mommy said I wus gonna stay wit Garry Oak, and dat he would take care of me jus like she did."

"Your mom must be mistaken. It's been a long time since I've been with her, and I'm not the same man I was years ago. I don't know how to take care of a little girl like you."

"Mommy said is not any diffwent dan when you love her. And she said you made her very happy. So I think Garry will do a good job." She smiled again when she finished her statement, bringing Gary to reminisce about his past relationship with Hilda. He was almost moved to tears by hearing this mini Hilda say those words to him. Almost. The Gary Oak he was known for didn't involve portraying such emotions, especially not to a young child. Taking a breath of air to regain himself, he squatted down to Evelyn's height, staring deep into her eyes.

"Let me ask you a question, Evelyn. The person I used to be and the person I am now are two different people. Your mom knew me as someone I'm not at the moment. I have no experience with kids or any sort of serious relationship, and with my job as a Pokémon researcher, I probably won't have a lot of time to even look after you. You don't even know who I am, and there's no telling when I could hurt you. After all, we're still strangers. Answer me honestly. For who I am as an individual right now, do you like me?"

x – x – x

"Yes," a sweet voice replied. "I've liked you for so long. Of course I'll go out with you." The orange haired woman wrapped her arms around the man's neck and hugged him tightly. The black haired man closed his eyes being in a state of bliss as the woman of his dreams clutched onto him. His arms naturally pulled her closer to him, never wanting to release his grasp.

After twelve years of friendship, Ash Ketchum had finally been able to settle down from his travels, and it was at this time that he mustered up enough courage to confess his feelings to Misty Waterflower. The newly found couple pulled away from their embrace just enough to see each other's face. When the two were children, Misty had been known for being a couple inches taller than Ash. Now that both had grown throughout their teenage years, Ash had definitely become to look more like a young adult. He stood taller than Misty, looking deep into her eyes of truth.

Carefully caressing the side of her cheek with his finger, he leaned his head in, softly pressing his forehead against hers and glimpsed down to her slightly opened lips. He uttered just low enough for Misty to hear, "May I…?" Misty nodded and their lips met without further hesitation.

Misty felt herself lose sense of reality by the way Ash managed to kiss her lips so gently. It was twelve years of love finally being released. The sweet taste of his lips as they moved slowly over hers felt so right. He seemed almost too experienced for this to have been his first kiss. Misty pushed aside that thought; it didn't take too much effort to do so, for she was lost amongst her thoughts when her partner slipped his tongue in her mouth. It didn't matter that it wasn't their first. All that mattered was that they finally settled in each other's arms.

"Umm," Evelyn answered after a long silence of trying to take in Gary's lengthy speech that was clearly not comprehendible for a three-year-old. "I dunno what you said… but…"

"Misty…" Ash spoke softly when their lips finally pulled apart.

"Garry," Evelyn started slowly.

"I want…"

"…to be…"

"Close to you…" the two said from their own distant locations. "Forever and always."

Author's Note: Hope the ending made sense as I was trying to parallel the characters' lives haha. I have a pretty bad habit of starting new stories, but if it'll help to get the writing mood back, I'll do it ;D Some of my inspiration came from a song entitled "Close to You" by niki. The one sung by Namine Ritsu is especially powerfully emotional and the source of my inspiration for this story.