This one is from Ash's POV.

Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old


It's a Steal

The only thing more difficult than taking care of a kid is taking care of two kids. At once. When they're the same age.

Trust me, I would know.

Case in point: I needed to go shopping today. Trust me, not my first, second, or even third choice of a preferred activity. But Misty's birthday was coming up, and as embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I didn't have a gift for her. Meanwhile, all of our friends are just going on and on about the "perfect" and "wonderful" gifts they've all gotten for her.

As for me? I'm her husband, who's sitting there empty handed. Leave it to me to be the last person in the entire world to buy my wife's birthday present.

So, I had no choice but to go to the Celadon City Mall. Sure, Cerulean City had one, and it'd really just be much easier to go to a place that's only five or ten minutes away from where I live. But the Cerulean City Mall is just too small, and the chances of accidentally running into Misty there are too great. Sometimes she goes there out of sheer boredom in between gym battles while her Pokémon heal at the Pokémon Center. So to Celadon City it was.

Oh, and of course I couldn't go alone. A challenger had presented themselves to Misty right when I was about to leave, and Aiden and Michelle can't be left to fend for themselves. They're only three years old, after all. As a result, the two of them had to tag along for my little adventure.

Here's the problem: Aiden doesn't like to be held. He absolutely, positively hates it. You try holding onto him for more than two minutes, and he throws a temper tantrum of epic proportions. Therefore, I always have to keep a very close eye on him as he scurries either next to or ahead of me.

Michelle, on the other hand, is a cuddler. She wants nothing more than to jump in your arms and hug you, and to be carried around anywhere and everywhere. But for some strange reason, Michelle was not in a nestling mood today.

"Down Daddy," she commanded as soon as we stepped into the mall.

"Why princess?" I asked curiously, "it's very big in here. Don't you want me to hold onto you?"

"No," she shook her head feverously before pointing at the ground, "down."

I contemplated it for only a moment before putting the little girl next to her brother. This may sound bad, but I'd rather have given in to what Michelle wanted than have to listen to her throw a fit. Being stuck in a shopping mall was punishment enough.

"Why are we here Daddy?" Aiden looked up at me with his big brown eyes. He didn't sound overly thrilled either. At least he was taking after me.

"We need to get Mommy a birthday present," I answered while trying to figure out which store to look in first, "it's coming up very soon."

"I 'ready got her a present," I could hear Michelle comment. Fantastic. I was getting beaten out by three year olds here! Of course, life for them was easy. All they had to do was draw Misty a little picture and she'd be as happy as could be. Being married to her, however, gave me more responsibility as far as a gift was concerned.

"What're you gonna' get her?" Aiden leaned against my leg.

"Uh…I'm not too sure," I rubbed the back of my head. I truly had absolutely no idea what to get.

"Daddy," Michelle stated in quite the staid tone, "you should buy her a pretty necklace."

"You think so?" I looked down at her. It wasn't a playful little reply. I was completely serious. Michelle was a girl after all. She may have been a little one, but she was a girl. I'm assuming she would understand what Misty would like better than me.

"Yeah," she nodded quickly.

There, so that wasn't so bad after all! I found a store that sold some very nice pieces of jewelry, and knew I could find something perfect for Misty. Aiden and Michelle were actually being quiet today, and they too were walking around admiring the different bracelets and earrings. Everyone seemed very impressed by their behavior, and that made me even more proud. How could something I was so badly dreading have turned out to actually be pretty good?

After picking out and purchasing a short silver necklace with a sparkling sapphire stone (which I made sure Aiden and Michelle approved of), the store alarm went off as we walked out the door. I stopped in my tracks, wondering why that had happened. I'd paid for the necklace and everything! Aiden and Michelle looked up at me with innocent faces, and after looking into the bag, the lady who sold me the necklace explained that sometimes the alarm just went off when it felt like it, and that I had nothing wrong. Thank goodness! The last thing I needed was for people to think that the Pokémon master was some kind of thief.

Walking home, Aiden and Michelle skipped merrily next to me, looking out for any wild Pokémon in the grass. They loved spotting different Pokémon and trying to remember the names of each ones. Teaching them that sort of stuff was really fun.

Halfway there, I saw Aiden reach into his shorts pocket and pull something out, admiring it in his hands as it shimmered in the afternoon sun.

"What've you got there Aiden?" I asked kindly. He certainly seemed enamored by whatever it was.

"A bracelet!" Aiden beamed, holding it up for me to see. Instantly, my face paled and I could feel my heart pounding. "I got it for Mommy. It goes with the necklace!"

"Aiden, where did you get that?" My voice came out almost like a robot's: emotionless.

"The jewelry store," Aiden replied as though it were obvious.

"Did…did you just…take that?"

"Uh huh," he shook his little head, "that's all you have to do, right?"

I wanted to die. Right then and there, in the very spot where I was standing. That's why the stupid alarm had gone off! I wasn't the criminal! My son was!

"Aiden, no!" I yelled, jumping back slightly as though the bracelet was about to explode. He simply blinked, not understanding why I'd suddenly gotten so upset. "What you did was very, very bad!"

"Why?" He furrowed his young brow and tilted his head.

"That's called stealing, Aiden!" I grabbed at my forehead, "you don't steal! You know what kind of people steal, Aiden?"

Again, he shook his head.

"Team Rocket, Aiden!" I bellowed, "Bad people like Team Rocket steal!"

"But I'm not Team Rocket, Daddy!" Aiden was now very distressed, "I didn't know! I…I'm sorry!" And just like that, he burst into tears, a rare action for the young boy. That made me realize I had to calm down. If I had freaked out enough to make Aiden cry, then I had overdone it. After all, he was just a kid. He didn't understand what he had done was wrong.

"It's okay buddy," I sighed, kneeling down to his level, "I know you're not as bad as Team Rocket. You don't know any better." Aiden shook his head in accordance with my words.

Now, I wasn't sure what to do next. I knew that the right thing to do was to go back to the store, explain everything, and return the bracelet. But man was that going to be embarrassing. And right after everyone thought they were such well behaved kids, too! I could already see the "Ash Ketchum is a terrible father" headlines emerging. And that was the last thing I wanted.

But, embarrassing or not, I knew that doing the responsible thing would teach my children a lesson. After all, I want them to do the right things in life. And owning up for a mistake was certainly a good lesson to learn.

"What do we do Daddy?" Aiden sniffed as he looked down at his sneakers.

"We go back to the store and tell them what happened," I patted his head, "and we give back the bracelet too. Okay?"

Aiden nodded slowly before piping up, "I don't wanna' be yelled at, Daddy. It was a accident."

Yes, it was an accident. And the poor kid was so terrified I was afraid he was going to pass out at any moment. I could see him trembling, for Arceus' sake. Time for another action I might find myself regretting in the future.

"I'll cover for you this time son," I looked him right in the eyes, which were identical to my own, "because you didn't understand what you were doing. But you have to pay attention, alright? I won't always be able to make up for your mistakes."

With another nod of his head, I held out my hand for the bracelet. Aiden quickly dropped it into my hand, clearly wanting to rid himself of the object. The trek back to the mall was a fairly long one, and Michelle was finally back to her usual self after about ten minutes, wanting to be back in my arms. Of course, I knew it was because she didn't want to walk anymore, but anything that would keep the twins out of further trouble was okay with me.

When we walked back into the jewelry store, and the alarm went off again, it made my head pound, since I now knew why it was ringing.

Walking up to the sales lady, I held out the bracelet and cautiously explained that Aiden had accidentally taken it, not understanding what he'd done wrong. I continued by saying that once I explained his mistake to him, however, he'd felt terrible and had never made it his intention to take the bracelet. When I was finished, I held my breath, waiting for an all out lecture about how I was the worst parent in the world.

And guess what? The woman didn't go ballistic. Oh no. She started laughing.

Noticing the confused expression that had overtaken my face, she explained that they had dealt with this many times before, and that it was perfectly understandable. As long as they got the bracelet back, it was no big deal. After all, as she said, "kids will be kids!"

Heading back home to Cerulean, I couldn't help but to feel relieved. It was good to know that Aiden wasn't the only kid who'd ever swiped something by accident. Knowing that made me feel a lot better about the situation. Either way, I still had one more concern that needed to be addressed about the whole thing: Misty could never, ever know.

Sure, the woman at the jewelry store might have laughed it off, but Misty?

I don't even want to think about it.