Finally finished this. Unbetaed, all errors are my own. Thanks to Kadie, my only reviewer so far, I'm sure she would like some company, hint hint :) Hope you enjoy. I did try to draw some cover art for this but failed miserably lol If anyone would like to have a go though I would totally love that.

Jessie struggled to hold back tears as she supported James towards what Meowth had called a cave but was really more of an overhang with sides. She prayed that she wasn't making his injuries worse by moving him but they really didn't have much of a choice and the other option was freezing to death if they stayed where they were.

She eased him down against the wall, as far into the makeshift shelter as she could get and collapsed next to him. She fought for composure, not wanting him to see how much the short hike had taken out of her and forced a smile as he looked up at her, his own smile slightly lopsided.

"You should smile more."

"What?"

"You're pretty when you smile."

"God, James! We're freezing to death out here; you could be bleeding to death from your BRAIN! What EXACTLY is it you think we have to SMILE about!"

Jessie instantly felt guilty for shouting at him when he was so badly injured, after having come so close to losing him forever but to her surprise James didn't seem upset by her outburst and started to laugh.

"Its okay, Jess, this isn't real you know."

"Why do you say that?" She asked cautiously, starting to worry even more.

"The real Jessie wouldn't cry over me, silly." He laughed harder. And the real Jessie doesn't have a cat growing out of her shoulder. Does that come off?" He asked curiously reaching out to touch Meowth who was sitting on Jessie's pack and peering over her shoulder.

The knot in her stomach tightened as she realised that James was making absolutely no sense and was possibly hallucinating. The possibility of him having a brain injury was looking more and more likely and she was hoping desperately that it was just the concussion talking.

"Yeah, James." She whispered, holding back the sob that was threatening to erupt. "He comes off, see?" She lifted Meowth off her shoulders and set him next to James, who promptly started to laugh again.

Pressing a hand over her mouth to suppress the hysterics that she knew were barely below the surface, she sank down beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.

"We should rest, James. Its going to be a while before the snow stops enough for me to go get help. Sleep for a while"

"Will I wake up?" He sounded afraid and she wondered exactly how aware he actually was of the seriousness of his condition. He had seemed alert at first and fully aware of his situation but then he had gone downhill so quickly. Now he just seemed scared.

"I promise. I'll wake you up every half hour, don't worry."

He nodded seeming happy with that and closed his eyes, letting his head sink onto her shoulder. Meowth crawled into her lap, his eyes wide and worried and she squeezed him firmly.

The next thing she knew she was waking up to darkness. She experienced a brief moment of panic and quickly took stock. She was cold. Really, really cold. James was heavy and strangely warm against her side and Meowth was shivering in her lap. James! She was supposed to wake him!

She shot upright and gently shook his arm, relieved when he woke without difficulty and sleepily asked what time it was.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Late I guess. Its freezing. I don't even know how we're still alive."

"S'body heat." James murmured. "We're s'posed to take our clothes off." This seemed to strike James as hysterically funny and he dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Jessie suppressed the urge to start laughing maniacally along with him, knowing that any release of emotion right now would be a bad idea. Instead she pulled him closer and tried to stay calm as tears started to spill over onto her cheeks, well aware that she was losing it and knowing full well that she could not afford to.

James stopped laughing, realising that she wasn't joining in and clasped her hand gently.

"Don't get upset, Jessie. You don't have to take off your clothes if you don't want to. I wouldn't make you, I swear!"

"I know you wouldn't, James, its not that honestly."

He brightened. "So you DO want to take our clothes off?" He reached for her coat zip and she quickly stopped him. She figured that his antics would be funny if they weren't a symptom of severe head trauma and hoped that they would both live long enough for her to tease him about them.

"No, James, I don't want to take anything off. That's only if your clothes are wet anyway."

He frowned. "I want to take mine off. I'm too hot."

"Hot? How on earth can you be hot?" She pressed a hand against his forehead and found that he was indeed cold to the touch. "I could make you all hot too." He told her with a suggestive grin and the urge to laugh returned in full force.

James pulled the zip of his coat down and flapped the sides as though attempting to create a breeze and Jessie's heart sank as she remembered that feeling hot, along with confusion, drowsiness and inappropriate emotional response were signs of hypothermia. This did however give her some hope that his head injury wasn't as bad as she had first feared.

She reached for his jacket and zipped it back up, ignoring his protests and moved to look out at the snow. It was still pretty heavy and she knew it wasn't going to get much better. She had to get James off this mountain tonight.

She leaned across to shake Meowth awake and filled him in on the situation. His eyes were growing bigger and more worried with her every word.

"Jess, we gots to get him outta here."

"I know. You're going to have to walk, Meowth, I can't carry both of you."

The scratch cat nodded, for once making no complaints about how much he hated getting his paws wet.

At first light, wrapped in their coats, they staggered out from under the protection of the overhang and started walking. James started out walking in a relatively straight line and managed to support most of his own weight, leaning on Jessie only as much as he needed to.

Thankfully Meowth had taken James' pack without even being asked, meaning that they didn't have to leave any supplies behind. Jessie had a feeling they would need them.

After about 3 hours she was in desperate need of a break. James had tired quickly and was leaning into her more and more and although he was slim, he was starting to get heavy. Also she had to pee. She kept a watch out for a suitable place to stop and rest and they soon came across a slightly sheltered rocky area where she wasted no time setting James down and disappearing behind some snow covered boulders to relieve her bladder.

When she returned she helped James over to the same area and turned her back, while he did the same. With that awkwardness over with she started digging through her pack for some water and was relieved to find it hadn't frozen.

After sharing the bottle with James she had a rummage and checked what they had left. They had food, mostly stuff like trail mix, packs of nuts and dried fruit. Some beef jerky. Mountain climbing rations James had called it. Light stuff that was nutritious and easy to carry. She pulled a packet of dried apricots out of the pack and handed it to James who shook his head.

"Try and eat it anyway." She told him firmly. "You HAVE to eat; please, for me?"

He pulled the bag open and took a piece, chewing it slowly. Satisfied, she turned back to the backpack and ate a handful of nuts before passing the bag to Meowth. The last thing she wanted was to have to carry him too.

They rested for a half hour, Jessie once again having to zip James' coat back up before forcing themselves to their feet and continuing on. Jessie wasn't sure whether it was the terrain getting more difficult and James getting heavier or if she was just getting more tired. A little of both maybe.

It started to get dark and she knew they would have to stop soon for the night. Meowth came in handy at this point as he found a reasonably sheltered spot and rigged up a makeshift shelter from a piece of tarpaulin found in James' pack. It offered little to no protection from the elements but was better than nothing and the three of them curled up close together for warmth.

James had mercifully not propositioned her again and had ceased his attempts to remove clothing, becoming quieter and more withdrawn but she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. She hoped it was just exhaustion. Meowth was uncharacteristically silent, only speaking when he had to and accepting offers of food and water with quiet thanks.

Jessie shifted on the ground to get as close to comfortable as she could and drew James tightly against her side, linking her arm through his. She scooped Meowth up too and unzipped her coat to tuck him inside, allowing him to curl up against her stomach. It was the warmest they were going to get and she was glad when her team mates drifted off to sleep. They all needed the rest but she found herself unable to do more than doze fitfully for an hour or two at a time.

She woke the next morning feeling more exhausted than she had the night before. James looked even worse and was paler than she had ever seen him. Meowth was the only one of them who actually looked like he had slept and was feeling better for it.

After a meagre breakfast of beef jerky and raisins it was time to start walking again. Jessie was getting sick of the sight of snow. She had always used to love snow as it reminded her of happy times in her childhood but now she thought she would be glad if it never snowed again.

That morning passed much like the previous one and by the time they stopped again she was getting seriously worried about her partner. He was barely taking any of his own weight and kept drifting off to sleep, taking longer and longer to respond when she tried to rouse him.

She knew that they had to be nearly down by now, only a few hours walk from the Pokemon Centre at the base but they were both exhausted and James could barely stand. She registered in the back of her mind that it was taking them more than twice as long to get back as it had to get up there and she knew that they were slowing down more and more, taking longer to get going again every time they stopped.

"Come on." She whispered, reaching out to give James a shake. He didn't respond and a stab of fear shot through her. "James? James, wake up!" She shook him harder, still receiving no response. Meowth scrambled towards them and started patting James' face with his paws, reluctant to fury swipe him in his current state.

"JAMES! Oh, God, James please! Do NOT do this to me, come on!" She felt frantically for a pulse, panicking when she felt how sluggish it was.

Meowth leapt up and scratched her across the face. "JESS!" He shouted. "Gets a grip!"

She blinked at him, still fighting back tears and shook her head. "What are we going to do? Its not like I can just pick him up and carry him like a Pokemon! He isn't going to go in a damn Pokeball, Meowth!"

Meowth jumped into her lap and pressed up close, allowing her to hug him. "Don' cry, Jess. Jimmy'll make it if he knows what's good for im!" He raised a paw, brandishing a gleaming set of claws.

"M'awake swear!" James mumbled.

Jessie had to stop herself from hitting him in sheer relief that he was still alive. Taking a breath, she grabbed his arms and hauled him upright with renewed determination. He wasn't going to die up here, not if she could help it.

"Stand up." She ordered. "Come on, just for a second."

He stumbled to his feet and stood there swaying unsteadily. She gathered their things and tied the straps of their packs together, handing them to Meowth. "Drag them if you have to." She told him.

Moving across to James, she turned her back to him. "Put your arms around my shoulders."

He did as he was told and yelped in alarm as she bent forward taking his weight on her back. Catching on, James swung his legs forward to wrap around her hips and she grabbed hold of them before straightening up with James now clinging on to her in a slightly lopsided piggyback.

"Come on, Meowth. Lets get off this damn mountain."

An hour later her new found energy was starting to dwindle and it had started to snow again. Jessie cursed their bad luck, beginning to have serious thoughts of quitting Team Rocket altogether if staying meant more assignments like this.

Meowth was exhausted too, dragging the two packs behind him by the straps but he wasn't complaining. Neither of them dared to mention stopping and had come to an unspoken agreement that there would be no more breaks. James was barely conscious now and Jessie knew that if she set him down she would never be able to lift him up again. It had taken his cooperation to get him onto her back the first time and there was no way she could manage with him unconscious. The words dead weight ran through her head and she forced them away with difficulty. James tightened his grip as if hearing her thoughts and wanting to reassure her.

They had walked for more than 3 hours, the snow getting heavier by the minute before they saw the tiny lights of the Pokemon Centre in the distance. She almost didn't believe her eyes. They had made it. Part of her had believed that they would just walk and walk until they collapsed and died out there and now the end was in sight.

She felt James head heavy on her shoulder, his grip around her neck loosening as he started to drift off and she jostled him roughly.

"Stay awake!" She pleaded. "We've almost made it, James, just please, stay with us!"

"Promise." James mumbled. "Always..." He sleepily pressed a kiss to her ear, the only part of her he could currently reach.

She felt an ache beginning in her throat and her vision swam with tears. She could see Meowth's blurry face looking at her with concern but she just couldn't keep it together any longer and burst into tears.

Still sobbing she lurched forwards, clutching James' legs around her hips like a lifeline and started walking again. She had to dredge up the very last reserves of strength to keep going the last quarter mile and ended up crying even harder when she saw Nurse Joy waiting outside with a stretcher, obviously having seen them approaching.

"Please." She forced out as she approached the Nurse. "Please, help us."

Joy looked across at the woman sitting in her lobby, wrapped in a blanket. The extraordinary Meowth with her was sat on the seat beside her talking quietly. Joy couldn't get over the fact that it was talking at all.

She had seen them coming down the mountain and had instantly known that they needed help. She couldn't believe that the woman had been able to carry her injured partner for so long; from what she had told her they had been pretty far up when he had fallen.

She wasn't stupid, she could see from their uniforms that they were with Team Rocket but she hadn't been able to live with the idea of turning someone away when they had fought so hard already to survive.

She had made arrangements for the man to be transferred first thing in the morning to a proper hospital and had patched him up and made him comfortable for the meantime.

The woman was currently using the vidphone to call someone, presumably her family.

Jessie was still shaking with shock and cold but she had calmed down considerably and was making the call she had been dreading. She was calling the Boss.

He was predictably, furious and shouted until her face was bright red with humiliation and demanded to know HOW they could possibly have fallen off the mountain and she hadn't dared tell him that she had pushed James, however accidental it had been. He did however agree to transfer money to cover James' hospital stay and compensate the Pokemon Centre that had helped them.

Her humiliation complete she went in to see how her partner was doing. Even with the bandage around his head making him look paler, he looked a lot better. He was still pretty out of it, drifting in and out of consciousness, though part of that was the painkillers he was on which were the strongest ones the Pokemon centre carried.

Nurse Joy had treated his injuries and had told Jessie that she had probably saved his life by not waiting for the snow to stop. Much longer without treatment and the head injury could have killed him.

He managed to wake up enough to talk to her though and gave her a big dopey smile when she tried once again to apologise.

"S'okay, Jess. I forgive you. Don't worry, I still love you." He told her with a grin that didn't look quite right.

She promptly burst into tears again and furiously berated herself to stop as James stroked her hair gently . What was the MATTER with her?! It was James fault, she decided. Being so damn sweet when she was trying to feel guilty.

"Oh, God." She choked out. "You won't even remember we had this conversation will you?"

"Nope." He replied, almost cheerfully. "This stuff is goooooood!"

"Good." She replied, burying her face in his shoulder and hugging him fiercely. "The crying never happened, got it?"

He returned the hug with less strength but just as much determination. "And I never tried to seduce you in a cave in front of Meowth."

"Deal."