Author's Note: Part 1: This fic has buddies. 'What He Doesn't Know' and 'Moonlight'. I do
suggest you read them first. To do otherwise risks confusion of some
magnitude. Don't worry kittens, it won't hurt you. Really. Part
2: I don't know what the hell is wrong with me lately.
I never planned to write this. Never planned to continue 'Best Man's
Own'...and yet, here I am. I think it's because I'm stuck on Kitaku.
*gives it a dark look*
Part 3: I stand by Brock not being an official gym leader. It
makes him even more tragic, poor dulcet; no momma, daddy run off, babies to
support. Sweet baby.
Dedications: The usual suspects...namely the people who've reviewed me and Ariala (who may have this, if she likes). And, always always, my tsuin Chelle. Chelle-sama, you're the very best. Ever. I swear I'll finish Kitaku. Please don't break out the whip again. ^.~ The thumbscrews already interfere with typing.
Descry the Light of Day
or: The Cruel Continuation
"Star light, star bright..." I whisper staring at the steady light in the sky, before trailing off in a sigh. "I don't know what to wish for, Brock." I snuggle my head down against his shoulder and revel in the feeling his arm around me
"S'kay." He sounds sleepy. "I think it's only for night-time stars anyhow." I close my eyes as he drops a kiss on my temple and try to suppress the shivers it gives me. Brock, however, chuckles and tucks the blanket more firmly around us. "Star light, star bright." He murmurs softly, "Wish I may, wish I might thank my lucky stars for last night." He pauses. "Even if you are technically the morning star and the last one in the sky." He tells it.
I giggle and get another kiss, this time on the cheek. "I know what to wish for." I tell him as he stands up. "I wish we could stay here." I let him pull me up to standing too. "Right here on this shore. Leaning against this big, old rock."
It's Brock's turn to laugh. "And stay up talking all day and night.
Again. We'll come back when we..." He stops, blushes and looks
down. "Well, we'll come back. I'll make sure." He threads
his fingers through mine and tugs us in the direction of camp. "I'm
going to make breakfast. Crêpes, I think."
"I'll watch." I volunteer.
Brock stops dead and drops my hand. I don't worry about it because he's cradling my face in his hands and kissing me soundly. "You'll help." He tells me after a minute, his mouth forming the words against mine.
"Alright." I agree, swaying. It's not like I don't help every other morning. And I'm glad, more than I can say, that things are going to be normal. A new and wonderful normal. "Let me guess, I get to smash strawberries while you do most everything else."
"You can get water for tea, too." He winks and I roll my eyes. Same old, same new-wonderful. "But that can wait." Brock drops his voice to a whisper we enter the clearing we set camp in; Ash is still curled up in his sleeping bag. Pikachu is awake and patting his hair. Something about that.... "Come sit by me and work, Misty." Brock is looking at me with a soft smile. And even though something is niggling in my mind, how can I resist him?
"Morning." Ash rolls over suddenly while I'm watching Brock stuff smashed fruit into pancakes and trying to remember that I'm supposed to be adding water to the tea leaves.
"Morning Ash!" Brock grins at him. "I made food. You get to make clean dishes."
"Okay." Ash's voice is impassive. I frown slightly; that niggling is fast becoming a full fledged worry. Ash hates to wash dishes and normally this type of proclamation is followed promptly by Ash trying to wheedle me into doing dishes for him.
"Hey Ash." I say cheerfully. "You missed a great sunrise."
I get a noncommittal shrug. "Yeah, I guess." I'm worried.
As worried as I'm getting to be about Ash, I still have a hard time concentrating on it. Brock's seated himself next to me, so close that his knee is nudging mine. He drew a heart on my crêpe with the syrup and made an arrow out of strawberry-smash. I'm probably as red as my hair, but I save that little valentine for last and I don't give Ash another thought until he goes down to the pond to do the dishes. Without saying a word. When I tell Brock that I'm going to give Ash a hand he kisses me goodbye just as Ash walks over for the soap; he doesn't say a word, just goes back down to the water.
"I'll rinse and dry." I offer, as I sit down by one of the collapsible tubs we use for washing.
"Do what you want." Ash mutters scrubbing a plate.
"Ash, I know that it's got to be weird for you. I mean yesterday...seeing me and Brock, and now today--" I begin. He cuts me off.
"Yeah. Whatever. You two didn't come back all night." He puts the plate into the rinse water with undue delicacy; it's plastic. "It's not a big shock, alright."
So he was awake this morning when we got back. And he feels...damn. I nudge him with my shoulder, rinsing the plates that Ash is handing over. "Well, whew. Load off of my mind." Miming wiping sweat from my brow I smile at him. "I was afraid you'd think that just because of the way Brock and I feel about each other that the three of us weren't as close and good of friends as we always were."
Ash stands suddenly and flings one of the tea cups out into the pond. It's Brock's favorite. "He didn't even know until last night." His voice is low and tight. "He didn't even think about it."
"Horsea." I call out my pokemon, glancing quickly back to camp. Brock is rolling sleeping bags and humming. "Fetch, baby." I show him one of the cups so that he knows what to get off the bottom. I don't say anything to Ash, yet.
"Misty..." His voice is pleading. "He didn't...he never...not before."
"It doesn't matter, Ash." I whisper. I look up at him, willing him to meet my eyes and then wishing I hadn't. He's so hurt. "It doesn't matter to me when he knew, Ash. He knows now. He feels it now."
"What if he doesn't 'feel it' next week?" Ash is blunt now, but I don't think he's trying to lash out and hurt. "Then what? I..." He trails off, kneeling down and grabbing my hands. "Misty." He says.
His heart is in his eyes and I've known forever how he feels. "It doesn't matter. Even if he'd never come around, I wouldn't stop loving him." Ash's eyes go dark when I say those words, confess for the second time in just a few hours that I love Brock. "Even if Brock never looked in my direction, Ash, things wouldn't be different. I'd still love him." Always gonna love him. "I'm sorry." I let the wind carry my voice after Ash as he tears out of camp without grabbing his pack or even Pikachu. "I'm so sorry." I sigh as Pikachu runs after him.
Brock is holding my backpack for me when I finish with the dishes and collect Horsea, a wry smile twisting his mouth into an unhappy line. His fingers brush mine as I take it. I rest my hand on his neck, stroking my fingers through the short hairs that grow there as he kneels and finishes with pack-out. And I watch Ash and Pikachu standing, waiting, maybe watching us, about a half-mile away.
"Misty?" Brock's voice is hushed as he gathers me into a close, tender hug. "I didn't know until last night." He murmurs. "But I felt it before then." He steps back, smiling at me; a real, happy smile this time.
"I know." I shoulder Ash's backpack along with my own. "You'll feel it next week too."
His quiet "We'll come back here." sounds like a vow.
We fall into step, catching up to Ash quickly and walking beside him without saying anything about anything. It's Ash who breaks our silence with talk of the next gym in the next town. It's not entirely wonderful, it's not entirely normal, but it's a start and that's enough. We keep walking, together, in the morning sun.
Owari!
Sorekara...
Circe:
Ahhh. Chelle-sama, there's nothing like the smell of charred hopes and
dreams in the morning!
Chelle: Mmm, the feeling of crushed emotions beneath your feet...like fresh,
dewy grass. It's lovely.
Ash: *crying* But I love her! I love Misty! I love her!
Circe: *laughing* First-Season Ash, you're never gonna win with us.
Chelle: Don't worry, your third-season self is getting okay treatment in Circe-sama's
other fics. Sort of...you still don't get Misty, but *snicker* that
is always a given.
Circe: Well, duh.
(Owari--the end, Sorekara--and
then...) ^.~ So. Chelle-sama is not lying. Ash does get to be
happy, instead of crushed and miserable, in the work I'm doing on 'Best Man's
own'. Hang it. But honestly, Johto-Ash is not nearly so annoying as
he first was and I'm even starting to like the little Twerp, oh my dear
me. Chelle-sama, my dear tsuin, would like you all to be
informed that any flames may be directed straight to Gor. (With our
compliments to CardCaptor Schlueter...AKA Syaoran-kun)