Chapter 23
It has been a month since Ariel was in the clinic. The Oak siblings would visit her every day after school. The clinic wouldn't allow Pokemon inside, so Ariel could only see Pikachu once she was released. Brock has visited often, and Melody has been tame when she visited with Ash, though Melody rarely came to the clinic. Ash and Misty never went more than a few hours away from Ariel; however, that doesn't mean the estranged parents talked often. On the contrary, they kept to themselves, and they got really good at ignoring the other's presence. Ariel also didn't force them to interact because she knows that's the reason she's in the clinic anyway.
With a broken leg and some bruised ribs, Ariel has made a speedy recovery. She's still on crutches, and she's returned to school in Cerulean City. She was able to catch up on work while stuck in the hospital. This is Ariel's first weekend back in Pallet Town since leaving the clinic. "Love ya, mom!" Ariel grins as she hobbles out of the car to grab her crutches from the backseat.
Misty also gets out of the car to help her, but Ariel likes to be independent. To the girl's surprise, Misty turns off the car, and Ash is walking out of the house to greet them. Misty never shuts off the car. Moreover, Ash never comes outside to exchange Ariel. Are they actually comfortable enough with each other now?
The girl crutches over to her father where Pikachu happily hops on her shoulder to nuzzle her cheek. Ariel had thanked the mouse immensely for protecting her that night, and even Misty showered Pikachu with ketchup. The redhead is grateful for Pikachu, who is the best babysitter she's ever had. "Hey, dad! Hey, Pikachu!" Ariel giggles.
Ash smiles warmly at her. "Hey, Ariel." He called her every day this week, like he does every day she's not with him. This time was different though because he videocalled her to make sure she was okay. He's scared any time she's out of his sight.
Misty walks over to plant a light kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Be good, okay?"
Ariel beams widely at her. "I'm always good, mom!" When Misty gives her a knowing look, Ariel shyly smiles. "I'll be very good!"
Ash and Misty awkwardly look at each other now. Clearing his throat, the man says, "I got her."
"I see." Misty mutters.
Although Ariel can sense how uncomfortable her parents are, she's just happy they're interacting. "Bye, mom!" Ariel grins and starts crutching inside with Ash behind her. Misty frowns at the back of her ex-husband before getting back in the car and driving off. This is going to be one long weekend.
The Next Day
The Oak siblings came by in the morning to play with Ariel since she can't really get around well on her crutches. They left in the afternoon since it is getting dark, and their parents have also been worried ever since the Team Rocket incident. Ariel is using the time to talk to her grandmother, who is preparing dinner, and work on her homework.
"What's for dinner, grandma?"
Chuckling, the older woman replies, "Your favorite, Ariel." This makes Ariel grin happily. She loves her grandmother's cooking.
When Delia sets out 5 plates, Ariel curiously asks, "Is Mimey eating with us?" If the Oaks join them for dinner, which is rare, Delia would add 4 more plates, not just one. Unless Brock is coming?"
Smiling warmly, Delia tells her grandaughter, "Surprise." Ariel winks knowingly at her. The girl is excited to speak with her Uncle Brock again.
When dinner time arrives, Ariel has placed her stuff away. Ash and Melody make their way downstairs to wash up and join Delia, Ariel, and Pikachu in the kitchen. "Smells good." Melody smiles at Delia.
"Thank you, Melody." Delia heads off to answer the door.
Ash, though, has been frowning this whole time. Ariel is glad he's here because she's not in the mood to deal with Melody's glares. Ariel is excited to be having her uncle over, which will really help her avoid Melody. "Did you know we're having a surprise, dad?" Ariel eagerly asks the man who seems to remember she's here.
Ash shoots her his signature grin. "How are ya feeling, champ?"
She blinks at him in confusion. Why did he ignore her question? Did he even hear her? "Um. I'm good, dad." Ariel catches Melody's smug look in the corner of her eye.
"I'm so glad you're able to join us for dinner!" Delia gushes while walking back into the kitchen.
This makes Ariel look up ready to welcome her uncle, but Pikachu leaps from the table into the new arrival's arms. "Pikachupi!"
The girl's eyes open wide in shock as her mouth falls slightly agape. "Mom?"
Misty, who had been giving Delia a tight smile, gives the same one to her daughter. "Hey, Ariel."
"What are you doing here?"
Misty sits down beside Ariel and Delia. With Pikachu still in her arms, the redhead replies, "I'm having dinner."
Ariel's shocked gaze now turns to her quiet father who is avoiding any eye contact. "Dad?"
"Hm?" Ash's head shoots up in surprise. He has been dreading this dinner all day, especially after Melody found out.
Ariel continues to look between her awkward parents. While she did see them together the whole time she was at the hospital, she never expected to see them having a meal together like this. The girl pinches herself to make sure this isn't a dream. She thought the most she'd ever see from her parents would be them exchanging her to each other. "I'm confused." She finally says.
"Me too." Melody mutters, earning a glare from Misty.
Delia sighs because she can sense all the tension in the room. "Let's have a nice dinner, shall we?"
As they're all eating, Ariel asks her mother, "How long are you staying?"
"I'll be leaving after we eat." Misty replies. The dinner has been very quiet and awkward, nothing like it usually is.
Although Melody would like to say some choice words to Misty, she won't do it in front of Delia. Plus, Ash would get upset at her for arguing in front of Ariel again. Instead, the brunette just gives Misty a smug look. "It's a shame." Melody mocks.
Misty rolls her eyes, and Ariel sees it. "If you wanna come back to the hotel with me, Ariel, you always can."
"She's fine here." Ash interrupts. It's his first time talking to Misty since she dropped off Ariel yesterday.
The redhead shoots him an annoyed look. "I wasn't talking to you."
"Stop trying to take her from me. You get her all week without my interruptions."
"Because you're too busy for her during the week!" MIsty snaps.
"Ash! Misty!" Delia cuts them off.
Ariel just sighs at her parents. They really are worse than Lauren and Jace. "You guys don't need to force yourself to hang out with me." She quietly tells them.
Misty closes her eyes in frustration as Ash looks away. This is not why they're supposed to be having dinner together. It's for Ariel, and they shouldn't make her feel like a burden. "We're not forcing ourselves, Ariel." Ash softly smiles at his daughter.
Misty nods in agreement. "We want to have these family dinners with you." Ariel can only give them tight smiles before looking back at her food. Pikachu nuzzles her leg since he's on the ground. He knows how hard everyone is trying for the girl's happiness.
After the dinner, which was still quiet yet surprisingly tame, Misty is walking out of the house with Ariel and Delia leading her. Ariel hugs her mother. "I'll see you tomorrow, mom!"
Misty kisses the top of the girl's head. "I'll be here. 7PM sharp!"
Nodding, the girl then crutches off after Pikachu says bye to Misty. This leaves Delia at the door alone with Misty. Misty sees the woman's knowing look, which usually means Delia is about to drop some life advice on her. "Delia-"
"I'm proud of you both, Misty." Delia cuts her off. "You're making an effort for Ariel."
Sighing, Misty gratefully smiles at Delia. "It's hard, but it'll only be until Ariel leaves for her journey next year."
Delia wants to frown hearing this, but she knows it's true. Ash and Misty don't need to try and get along when Ariel is gone. The older woman loves seeing Misty, and she misses spending time with her. The few minutes when they exchange Ariel isn't enough for Delia. "We'll see you tomorrow, Misty." Delia hugs the redhead, and everyone goes their separate ways.
Days Later
Ariel arrives home after school. The rest of her time in Pallet Town involved her playing with the Oak siblings and then having alone time with her father before Misty picked her up. Ariel always enjoys the lone time she gets with her parents, especially Ash who seems to have so many other commitments. This time, they watched a movie together rather than Ariel asking him questions about her mother. Ariel deemed him and Misty having dinner the day before was enough torture for her father.
Per the usual, she lets her mother know she's home through a text this time because she's still on crutches, and then she works on her schoolwork. Cerulean City is very boring since Ariel doesn't have any friends here. Sighing, she looks over at Psyduck, who her mother left to keep Ariel company. "I'm bored, Psyduck."
She can't do much due to her crutches. Also, with Misty working until dinner time and then Misty focuses on paperwork, Ariel is very bored. She'll call the Oak siblings and her father, but that only takes about an hour or two. Ariel wishes she was living in Pallet Town full time instead. At least then, she has her grandmother and the Oak siblings.
"Psy?" Psyduck cocks his head to the side, which makes Ariel smile at the silly Pokemon.
"I wish I could swim again."
"Duck psyduck." Psyduck nods, and Ariel laughs because he's scared of water.
"You're funny, Psyduck."
He's flattered by the compliment, so he hides his embarrassed face behind his wings. "Psyyyy."
Knocking on the door interrupts them, making Ariel wary of who is here. No one ever visits. All her aunts have keys to the house, and so does her mother. Even though Psyduck can be a strong Pokemon, that's under certain circumstances. Ariel is still traumatized by the whole Team Rocket incident, so she clings to Psyduck who is equally scared but will save Ariel.
"It's me, Ariel!" the voice shouts when no one answers the door.
Ariel now curiously looks at Psyduck. Had she heard correctly? "Dad?"
"Yeah. Can I come in, champ?"
She grins widely and rushes over to swing the door open. Pikachu hops on her shoulder to nuzzle her face, and Ariel tackles her father in a hug. What's he doing here? He never comes to Cerulean City unless she asks him to pick her up. Even then, he never comes up to the house like this. Also, it's a three hour flight from the League, so that means he had to have left around noon to get here now.
Looking up at him with her cerulean blue eyes, Ariel asks, "What are you doing here?"
Ash chuckles awkwardly as he makes his way inside where he sits on the couch. He notices that it still looks the same inside, except for the photos. There are a lot less pictures on the wall. The ones that are up are of Misty and Ariel only as well as the rest of the Waterflowers and Sketchits.
"Psy?"
Ash's attention snaps from the walls to the yellow Pokemon. He pats Psyduck's head. "Hey, Psyduck."
"Pika!" Pikachu cries excitedly and jumps on Psyduck now to greet him.
Ariel joins her father on the couch. "Dad, you never answered my question." She's very confused. What is going on?
Giving her a nervous smile, Ash replies, "I'm here for dinner." He sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "I know you asked for me, you, and your mom to have dinner alone. It's kinda hard doing that in Pallet Town with grandma and Melody there."
Ariel just blinks in even more confusion. This must be a dream. Her father is inside her Cerulean City house...willingly. And he wants to have dinner alone with just her and her mother? How is this possible? "Dad?" whispers the girl.
"Yeah?"
"Is this a dream?"
Ash chuckles, which causes him to relax now. Looking back at his daughter, he ruffles her hair. "It's real, champ." Ash then picks up one of her hands in his. "Your mother and I are gonna try and get along again...for you. We only have a year left before you leave for your journey."
Ariel loves her father's genuine smile, and she also loves that he's here with her. She gets bored in Cerulean City. How he managed to get so much time off today, Ariel isn't sure, though she trusts her father. "Can we battle in the backyard?"
Flipping his cap backwards, Ash narrows his eyes playfully at her. "You dare challenge the Kanto Champion to a battle, Ariel Delia Ketchum?"
Giggling, she stands up with her crutches. "Yeah! And I'm gonna beat him too!"
A Few Hours Later
Misty returns to her home to prepare dinner. Of course she knows about her ex-husband being here today since they had texted about it. Mew, she hates having to be in contact with him. This is why they always communicate through Delia or Ariel. However, Ash and Misty don't want any miscommunication or for Ariel to feel like a burden on them, so they have to directly message one another.
Sighing as she stands in front of the door, she mentally prepares herself for one long awkward dinner. At least Melody isn't here. Misty knows how much Charizard hates Melody, and Ash would rather fly on Charizard than make a longer commute by car. She wonders how long this will last with Ash. He's probably already sick of the long commute. Serves him right. Now he knows what she's been doing, with an even longer commute, for 5 years now.
Opening the door, Misty hears laughter in the kitchen. She knows it's her daughter and ex, which makes her mentally groan. Walking into the kitchen, Misty spots Ariel giggling on a stool by the island. Pikachu is sitting on the island, and Psyduck is sitting on a stool beside Ariel. Ash is rolling out some dough on the island, but the flour is getting everywhere. It's on him, Ariel, and the Pokemon, though it seems like no one cares. They're all having a good time laughing about the whole ordeal.
Misty spots Ash wearing one of her aprons. If Ariel didn't show him where it is, Misty knows he knows where they are. She didn't really rearrange the house too much after the divorce. All she did was take down pictures of him. Leaning on the wall by the kitchen entrance, Misty can't help but smile at her laughing daughter who has flour on her nose. Ariel deserves to live in laughter. She needs to always be happy.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, dad?" Ariel giggles. Ash, being hungry, couldn't wait for Misty any longer, so he offered to start cooking after his and Ariel's battle. Of course, the champion doesn't know how to cook.
"I've seen grandma do this a couple of times." Ash winks at her, but when he presses down on the dough, another puff of flour flies up, hitting his face again.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu falls over and laughs with Psyduck and Ariel.
"Pff." Everyone freezes as they hear the new laugh. Looking over, they all spot Misty trying hard to hide her smirk. Ash instantly freezes because he knows he made a mess. She's going to be so pissed.
To everyone's surprise, Misty walks to the closet to put on an apron. Standing on the opposite side of the island, she looks at the dough. "What are you trying to make?"
"Uhh…" Ash is at a loss for words. She's not mad? Well, most likely not in front of Ariel.
"Pizza!" the girl excitedly tells her mother. This is what Ariel's always wanted. Just her and her parents alone together.
Chuckling, Misty washes her hands before taking the dough off the counter. "This is why I cook."
"But you never make pizza, mom." Ariel knowingly tells the redhead, causing Ash to stifle a laugh.
Misty shoots her ex a glare. "What are you laughing about?"
Ash composes himself due to her tone. "Look at you, acting all high and mighty when Ariel just exposed you."
"At least I'm not gonna make a mess." Misty remarks while stretching out the dough. "You're cleaning this by yourself."
He rolls his eyes at her as he watches her struggle with the dough. "I was planning to. I always clean up my mess."
Misty challenges his comment with her eyes because she does not want to argue in front of Ariel right now. Pikachu and the girl worriedly watch the parents glare at each other. "While mom does the dough, we should mix the sauce, dad!" Ariel chimes in, which fortunately makes her parents look away from each other again.
About an hour later, the family is sitting at the dinner table eating pizza. Pikachu and Psyduck are enjoying their pokemon food on the floor. "That was fun." Ariel laughs.
Misty frowns while eating her slice of pizza. They had utterly failed at making pizza tonight, so they ordered some for dinner.
"Maybe if I was working on the dough, this would've never happened." Ash knowingly remarks.
Misty rolls her eyes. "Oh please. You spent nearly an hour on it with nothing to show." She narrows her eyes at him. "And you burned the sauce!"
"I only burned the sauce because you threw the dough too high and someone had to get it off the ceiling!" Ash had to climb onto a chair and unstick the pizza from the ceiling. While he was up there, Misty made him wash the ceiling free of any leftover dough, thus causing the unattended sauce to burn.
The girl just giggles at her bickering parents. "I had fun!"
Both parents relax when they hear her words. Smiling at Ariel, Misty says, "I'm glad you did, baby."
Ash nods. "It was a lot of fun, huh, champ?" Misty curiously looks at her ex husband. He had fun? He didn't hate having to cook with her?
"Yup! When are you coming back, dad?" her hopeful eyes look up at him. She really loves it when Ash is in Cerulean City because it means Melody isn't. Also, Ariel isn't as lonely as she waits for her mother.
Ash grins as he steals a piece of pepperoni off of her slice, making the girl pout. "Your mother and I agreed to have dinner with you every Wednesday and Saturday." This means Ash will be in Cerulean City every Wednesday, and Misty will be joining them for dinner every Saturday.
Ariel's eyes open wide in surprise. She hopefully looks at her mother. "Is this true, mom?"
Even though Misty hates this new arrangement with her ex-husband, just seeing the gleeful expression on her daughter makes everything all better. Smiling warmly at Ariel, Misty nods. "Yes, it is." Besides, Misty doubts Ash will be able to commit to these dinners much longer. He barely commits to anything.