"Mom? What's all this?"

May sat down in the center of the couch, looking at all the glossy magazines and books spread out on the coffee table. It surprised her to see anything of the sort out. Her mother wasn't prone to sitting and reading periodicals unless they were medical journals. When did she have time, between her career as the aromatherapist head at the Pokémon Center and pretty much keeping a home up by herself? Both May and her brother stayed so busy working and training they really never had too much time to help with the house. Her eyes got big as she picked up the nearest magazine. Twenty-First Century Bride featured a young blonde on its cover, dressed in an elaborate wedding dress with a train that would have put Amtrak to shame. Putting it back down, she checked the other periodicals spread out on the twin-tiered table. They all had the same overall theme, with names like Midwestern Wedding or Modern Nuptials.

Caroline Maple came back into the den, drying her hands after putting the lunch dishes away. May had a break in the middle of her day, while Ash and Pikachu were off training, so she called her daughter to come eat with her that afternoon on her rare weekday off.

"Just some things I'm looking at."

"Mom! The wedding is still like ten months away. Aren't you going a little overboard?"

"Overboard? Oh, come on, May. Ten months really isn't that long. What were you going to do? Wait until you two get your passes next year? That will leave you with exactly one month to get ready."

"Sounds like plenty of time to me. Do you have any idea how much work I'm going to be doing that last month?"

"Oh dear me, I guess it was nothing like medical school." Caroline smiled at her daughter, sitting down in the chair off the end of the table. "Really, if I know you, you'll want everything planned out to the tiniest detail."

"I'm so not going to be that way. All I really want is a simple little wedding. Really, it's not a big deal."

"Yes it is a big deal, sweetheart. There's much more to do than just simply showing up at the church or Ash's synagogue…um, which one is it going to be anyway?"

"We haven't really talked about it all that much yet. We've been sort of busy, what with the new house, and everything."

"How was your first night in your new home anyway, sweetie? You haven't said a word about it since you came in."

May frowned. "It was…okay. I guess."

Caroline gave her daughter a strange look.

"Okay? Now, May, I'm no rocket scientist or a trained professor like Prof. Birch, but I would think that on your first night on being alone, that you two would be doing something that qualifies well above just okay. Or was it really that bad?"

"Mom!"

"I'm only being honest with you, dear. What happened? Was your evening ruined? Was it when your father called?"

She shifted in her seat a little bit. "Mom, last week was fine, okay. All I'm going to say is that the phone is going to be on Ash's side of the bed from now on."

"Why is that?"

"Mom, I'm done. End of discussion."

Caroline just went on. "Alright then, back to your wedding. There's still your dress to consider, caterers, flowers, invitations."

"Uch. Really, Mom, you make it sound like such a big production. I was just thinking of inviting both families and a few friends. Then we can have the ceremony and that's it."

"You really think it's going to be that simple? May, you're a public figure. Ash too."

"Oh, don't remind me. If I see another story in those tabloids about me living with some pretty-boy movie star I'm going to hurl."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Look here." She sifted through a couple magazines until she came to one. "There has been much speculation about the nuptials of femme-fatale May Maple to her long-time boyfriend, partner, and hero, Ash Ketchum. Some have speculated the two of them will finally tie the knot, but the couple have been keeping their plans under wraps." She closed the book and handed it to her daughter. "I haven't been able to find it this morning, but there's another one with an artist's concept of what your dress might look like. I bet you don't even know yet, do you?"

"I really haven't thought about it, at least as far as putting it on paper or anything. I've got a general idea of what I want in my mind. Simple, elegant, white."

Caroline's eyebrow shot up slightly. May caught the look and scowled at her mother. "Yes, I'm going to wear white."

"I didn't say anything. I wore white at my wedding, and that was twenty-three years ago."

"Of course you wore…" What her mother said finally sunk in. "Oh, Mom! TMI!"

"All I'm saying, honey, is that people are going to expect something big, something grand."

"It's my wedding." May pouted. "Aren't I supposed to get what I want? The way you make it sound, I'm starting to think we'd be better off just heading to the county courthouse and eloping."

"Really, May, would you actually think of doing that to Ash?"

"Doing what? He's as ready to be married as I am. If it wasn't for those last months when he was away training, we'd probably have headed off to Celadon City and tied the knot already."

Caroline leaned forward, putting her elbow on her knee and looking at her daughter through hooded eyes. "Do you remember what you said to me on the phone when we were talking about your Prom at the Contest Hall a few years ago?"

"Uch. Don't remind me. That almost turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life."

"That's not what I'm talking about. You said you wanted to make a statement."

"I'm not about making statements any more, Mom. I love Ash and that's all that matters."

"That is what I am getting at. You have fans out there, and if you have a big, elaborate wedding with all the trimming, that's going to make a huge statement about how you feel about him. Maybe that will go a long way to shutting those tabloids up too."

"Maybe. It just feels like it's so far away right now. It's still technically summer for a few more days, and the wedding's in the middle of spring next year."

"The date you have in mind is not exactly the middle. Besides, after you two get your league passes next year, I'm sure the two of you are going to go on vacation together."

"Actually, we were going to save that for the honeymoon."

"At least you save something."

"Mom! You're the one who was always pushing us together, you're the one who was happiest when Ash and I started… you know."

"I was and I am. It's just…I wasn't really expecting you to move out just yet. Do you know how angry I was with your father when I found out he suggested you do it?"

"You were…huh?"

Caroline took a deep breath before going on. "I used to think I would be the one who would finally give you a little push out of the nest. Now it's funny that I regret you leaving. No, I never had a problem with you and Ash taking things more physical. Honestly, I thought the two of you waited plenty long enough, but I miss having a daughter. I love your brother, but…he's a boy. It's totally different, and he is closer to his pokémon than he is with anybody else, and that includes you, your father and I, even his girlfriend, which I'm not even sure he should be having at his age."

"Mom, it's not like you've lost me. We only live in Rustboro, and when our permanent home is ready, it's only 30, maybe 45 minutes away."

"I know. Still doesn't change the way I feel. Anyway, why don't you look at a few of these things, maybe some dress patterns. That way, once spring gets here, all you'll have to worry about is getting to the church on time and keeping Ash from seeing you before the ceremony. That's not going to happen if you spend the entire month of May or April worried about whether the invitations will be ready in time to send out, or if your dress is going to be back from the cleaners, what your bridesmaids will be wearing. Have you even given any thought to who your bridesmaids will be?"

"Oh, I haven't decided who's going to be Maid-of-Honor, though I've considered Harley. He's been a real good boy for the past few years, not to mention all the trouble he's going through in planning my wedding. I think I'll have to include Misty and Dawn. Maybe Christine; you know, the girl I met in Orre a few years back?"

"You'll need at least five."

"Let me think about it. Okay, so you've got me started on this, it doesn't mean we have to plan out every single detail today."

Caroline got a little evil gleam in her eye. "You could always ask your old friend Drew to come. Didn't the two of you bury the hatchet a while back?"

"Eck. So not. Calling it quits with the rivalry was one thing, but having Drew in my wedding? Like that's ever going to happen. That's about as likely as Team Rocket marrying each other."

"Stranger things have been known to happen. Like Harley coming to me for help because he had this odd notion he could trust me."

"Never said he wasn't smart. He was just playing off the way we think, about the way we feel about honor and integrity. He used that to his own ends. He trusted you because he knew we weren't like him. But he's changed since then, I know. He…"

"Enough about Mister Dawson. So, a white dress, huh? You know who is going to flip when she hears about that?"

"Nana? Mom, she's old fashioned, but I think she knows about Ash and me. She might have made us sleep in separate beds the last time we were down there, but she knows we're living together. Nobody in their right mind is buying that bit about us having our own rooms."

"I think your father likes to pretend that you do…sometimes, but I'm not referring to Nana."

"Oh no, not…"

"Yes. Aunt Mary."

"Mom, she's just freaked that Austin still doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Mary was old fashioned about things long before Austin was even born. She gave me no end of grief when she found out your father and I were…"

"Whoa, TMI-land again there Mom. The fact the Max and me were born is enough evidence I ever needed that you two…" She shuddered slightly.

"Well, you did notice that she hasn't exactly spoken to you and Ash very much, especially since the two of you started going on trips together…non-journey trips."

"I thought that had more to do with Austin still not forgiving me for getting him kicked out of the PokéTumble, or whatever that silliness was called."

"Anyway, whether we like it or not, she's going to be involved. There hasn't been a wedding in this family she didn't stick her nose into. Her and your Granny Credible."

May started wondering if going perfectly nuts over a wedding might actually be a family trait shared by all the Credibles. Her Mom, her sister Mary, her mother…

She sat back on the couch and covered her forehead. "I just realized we're going to have to invite Ash's family too."

"Well, of course they're going to be invited. I know his cousin Jeffery can be a little monster…"

"No, I'm not talking about him. He's still just as evil, but at least he's learned how to control himself." May grimaced again. Jeffery had gone from an out-and-out, in your face evil seven to a devious, secretive evil twelve. She wasn't sure which one was more dangerous. That paled when she thought about the others. "I was actually talking about…well…never mind."

"What?"

"No, it's probably not even important. It doesn't need to be said. Besides, I don't like tempting luck that way. I can't count how many times Ash and I wanted to…then something happened…" She blushed crimson, realizing what she had just said. "Look, uh, Mom, I'd better be getting back to the house. Ash is probably waiting for me."

"It's only one-thirty, dear. Why don't you take a look at some more of these? I've picked out some lovely patterns for the invitations, and the reception place-markers."

"Really, Mom, one thing at a time. Besides, I don't want to do too much of this without Ash."

"Ash can't help you pick out your wedding dress. That has to be totally up to you. He can't even see it until the ceremony."

May put her hands up. "Okay, that's it. I get it, I can't wait all the way until spring to start planning this, but it's freaking July. Maybe after the holidays I'll think about this. Yes, you're right, a big, lavish wedding would look real nice, but I don't want to put on some big media spectacle either. I'm not in the limelight as much as I used to, and that suits me just fine. I'm not the same person I was nine years ago. There's going to come a day when I won't be doing the coordinating thing anymore and I'm going to want to simply be left alone to raise a family." She shut up the moment that slipped past her lips. There was nothing Caroline Maple would like better than to be a grandmother, especially if she could be one before she turned fifty.

That was so not going to happen. May had made mistakes with her meds before, but ever since they had taken their relationship to the next level, she took them religiously. There wasn't going to be a 'happy accident.' The last thing she wanted was to have her wedding dress let out at the last moment because they had gotten ahead of themselves that way. Then she really would want it to be a private little ceremony. The tabloid press would have a field day with her getting married pregnant. She knew her star was fading slightly, but she certainly didn't want to hold onto her notoriety that way.

"Look, Mom, why don't you thin out the herd, as it were, and I'll take a look. Right now I've got bigger things to worry about, like where my fiancé is, my weekly meetings with Harley, stuff like that."

"Okay, dear. Don't you worry about a thing, I'll handle it all."

May nodded as she picked up her purse to go. It wasn't until she was halfway back to the house before she realized what had just happened.

Her mother was good. Too good. She knew she would be satisfied with having a small, private ceremony with just the two immediate families in attendance. That was who and what was important to her. Yet her mother was the one wanting the big wedding. The whole lunch-date, the magazines on the table, the discussion.

May had been played. Now she had given her mother consent to basically take over the plans for the wedding. She had as much as ceded total control to her.

She banged her head lightly on her steering wheel as she waited for the light to change.


May barely got her keys in the lock when the door suddenly flew opened. She saw Ash standing there as giddy as could be.

"You're in a good mood today, honey. I presume that the horrible fiasco that was last week is no longer embedded in your brain?" She said as she flopped down on their comfortable loveseat cushion.

"Oh, it's still there. This bruise on my eye can testify to that." He pointed to his no longer swollen but still visibly red eye.

"At least it's healing."

"S'ha, it's healing. You know how many heating packs and frozen bags of peas I put on this bad boy? It cost me so much money for the first few days, then…"

"I thought you were going to tell me why you were so happy?"

The smile returned to Ash's face. "Pikachu! Bring them in, buddy!"

The electric-type pokémon came bouncing into the living room, carry what must have be many envelopes in his mouth. He carried what he could manage between his tiny little fingers. He dropped all envelopes on the coffee table before sitting down on the table with a sigh.

"What's all this?"

"Mail! Can you believe it? We've only been here a week and we're already getting mail!"

"Ash, that's because we forwarded the mail from my parents' address to this one."

"Yeah, but it's going to be our very first time opening mail in our own home!"

With an exasperated sigh, May sat up and flipped through several of the envelopes.

"Well don't get too excited now." Ash said, crossing his arms.

"Ash, did you read any of these when you came home?"

"No. I was waiting for you to come home so we could savor the moment of the opening process in our new home. We're opening mail in our new home."

"Ash, look." She said, quickly getting to her feet and handing Ash one of the letters. He opened it up and quickly read through it.

"College Acceptance Letters?" They said in unison.

Ash wore a perplexed look on his face. "May, what's college?"