~*~
CHAPTER SIX
~*~
Bathed in the extraordinarily beautiful starlight, Misty leant against the railing of the ship - the cool white metal startlingly cool and firm in her grasp for an object she sadly somehow knew was simply imagination. She had been having this dream for a while now.
By day, she showed his memory no remorse, banishing every stray thought of Ash to her subconscious. But he came to her at night. As her body lay motionless and alone under her sheets, his memory flourished, and Misty could still feel the imprints from her fingertips, hear the echo of his voice and taste the reminiscence of his lips on hers…
But Misty didn't care if it was only a dream…if she knew it was only a dream. It was only a bittersweet knowledge after all. She knew she could never have the reality again, and in an odd way, she felt privileged to have ever been in that situation. Too many people went through life without knowing true love.
Shards of sunlight shattered the peaceful dream sequence, triggering a chain of events Misty knew all too well…it happened night after night - Misty would be swept overboard, while Ash blew her a kiss and walked away. But tonight, the wave didn't come…and her dream Ash continued to kiss her.
Then, Misty felt his hands press gently on her stomach, and pulled back uncertainly, staring the lonely heart's equivalent of Ash Ketchum in the eyes searchingly. He stared back sadly.
"We could have been a family," he whispered. "Misty, you know, you've always known how I really felt about you. How much I lov-"
Misty woke with a start, her sleepy head filling with dismay as she felt her dream slip like a gossamer thread through her fingers as she reached for it blindly. Admitting defeat she sat up, rubbing her eyes. They were wet from tears - and her pillow even more so.
It was 4am Christmas morning.
Jo watched Ash down another glass like it was water. It was so unlike him - he never drank alcohol. He'd never started because Misty had made it clear she detested it. Tracey, Linda and Brock were all long since asleep; she had stayed awake for a very important reason - she had something to ask him.
"Ash…" she began haltingly. He looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. "Before she, um, left, did Misty hint that she had a secret that she was going to tell you? A good secret," she added hurriedly. Ash stared at the murky liquid in his newly refilled glass, and as it he was suddenly waking up, he grimaced and pushed it away.
"Yeah," he answered, smiling slightly. "She told me she had a surprise for me…I had to do 5 adoring tasks for her before she said she's tell me…I was on number four…" Jo edgily fidgeted with a ring she wore on one hand.
"I shouldn't be the one to tell you this…" she muttered. "But Misty didn't…and I think it's important you know this." Ash looked up at her innocently and attentively. Jo noticed that if you didn't count the black peppered stubble that darkened his cheeks and chin, Ash really hadn't aged in the four years she'd known him. She took a deep breath, and hoped she was doing the right thing in telling him.
"Ash, Misty was trying to tell you that she was pregnant."
She searched Ash's face for a reaction…but there was none. "It was yours…" she added helpfully. Still there seemed to be no reaction. Ash's face was glazed over, his mouth partly open. Suddenly, his eyes clicked back into focus.
"Oh my GOD!" he bellowed, frightening Pikachu who was sleeping on a cushion nearby. His voice cracked as he cradled his head in his hands. "What the hell have I done to her? Because of me, she can't have contact with her family and the people who love her, and she's out there with God-knows-who doing God-knows-what in God-knows-where…and also, cos of me, pretty soon she'll be a single mother! Oh…"
Ash dissolved into tears again, as Jo sadly bit her lips together, as if to prevent further words escaping them. "Hang on," Ash choked between sobs, "I'm a daddy!" he half laughed, half cried. Jo nodded her head in amusement, swept up in the moment and forgetting the other half of her knowledge. Ash was barely more than a child himself. "You hear that Pikachu!?" he yelled, excitedly. "You're an…aunt? Pikachu-in-law? Cousin? Aw hell, I'm a DAD!" Ash whirled around with newfound determination flashing in his dark eyes.
"Alright! Let's find my future wife and my unborn child and get my life out of soap opera mode!" he grinned, leaping characteristically over the back of the sofa.
Miles and miles away, in an apartment above the Gym on Cianwood Island, Misty pulled a tee shirt over her completely flat stomach.
~*~
Tracey had grinned widely and had heartily patted Ash on the shoulder, cheering,
"I knew you were gonna knock her up one day!" Linda had been rather miffed at the fact her cousin hadn't told her first. Delia Ketchum had first berated her son in horror for "being careless", but as the news suck in, she almost bought out the entire stock of a nearby baby clothes store, exclaiming loudly to everyone within a five mile radius that her "son and daughter" were having a baby.
Professor Oak acted normally, saying congratulations and asking them to call the baby "Samantha" if it was a girl. Gary was unattainable - probably off training in some mountains.
Brock had just looked confused - and a tad freaked out.
"You two were…doing it?" he asked weakly.
"We share the same bed Brock," Ash pointed out patiently. Brock looked even worse.
"B-but what does that have to do with anything? You two have shared beds loads of times…even when you two were 10 years old!" Ash grinned and winked mischievously. Brock went ghostly white, and Ash laughed.
"I'M JOKING!" Brock looked slightly better.
"Were you 16?" he demanded. Ash looked surprised at the question and coloured slightly.
"Almost…" he mumbled. Brock tutted in a superior manner. As Brock grew more and more in control, and grew less pale from the shock, yet slightly obvious news, that his two best friends had been having sex with each other, Ash grew redder and redder with embarrassment.
"How many times?" Brock queried. Ash grinned mischievously again.
"Just a couple of times -" Brock looked relieved. "- a night," Ash threw in casually. Brock spluttered and almost fell off his chair. "You know for someone who pretends to know a lot about this stuff, you're awfully gullible Brock!"
The truer version of the story emerged from Ash. The pair had lost their virginities on a Christmas Eve night. Ash recalled his longing to tell her how much he loved her with all his heart, but as usual, the words had stuck to the inside of his mouth, and fallen back down again. All he'd managed was to squeak out a lousy "Merry Christmas Myst." This was painfully embarrassing for him though…despite his loudness, Ash was a very shy person, especially when it came to things like this!
Now it was HORRIBLY embarrassing…Ash smiled as he imagined a heavily pregnant Misty shaking her fist at a group of reporters and exclaiming, "You'd think this bump had a huge neon sign flashing 'Ash Ketchum knocked me up! Interview me!' written on it!"
As well as the usual wave of how much he missed her there was a gush of certainty that he was going to find her, and she was going to rush into his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world, and like nothing had ever come between them. Of course he was going to find her before she had the baby, and everything would be…perfect.
From across the room, Brock and Jo watched Ash slip into candied daydreams with sadness on their faces. Jo turned to Brock and spoke in a hurried whisper.
"Brock, do you know how hard it will be to find her?" Brock nodded grimly.
"Yeah, and it's not like Misty's stupid or anything; if she doesn't wanna be found, she knows the things she needs to cover up…" Brock glanced at Jo out of the corner of his eye. She bit her lip, a habit she had acquired from Misty, and shuffled in her seat.
"Brock, I saw her," she whispered urgently. Brock looked up in disbelief.
"Saw her? When?"
"Christmas shopping in Goldenrod. She was with some girl with purple hair who was practically drowning herself in those free perfume samples."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Couldn't get the chance. She left the shop - there were people in the way…but it was her. That I'm 100% sure of. But Brock…Brock she didn't have a bump…she's supposed to be 7 months pregnant by now, and she didn't have a bump." Brock looked confused.
"But you said she was pregnant…"
"She was, we were so so so sure. She took that pregnancy test six times, and then she even went to a doctor and he confirmed it too…" She turned her cornflower blue eyes, the lids laden with a shimmery green powder, onto Brock. He felt his insides melt. In the four years he'd known her, his crush on the pretty, yet different Nurse Joy hadn't faded. Jo bit her lip again, smudging some of her trademark black lipstick onto her teeth. Brock shook his head adamantly.
"No! She would never have…" he murmured immediately. "She was so…against…" he gulped. "Things like…"
"Abortion?" Jo breathed. Suddenly Ash bounded over from where he had been talking to Linda and Tracey and dropped presents wrapped in gauzy wrapping paper in Jo's and Brock's laps.
"Merry Christmas!" he squealed, like a five year old; ill-disguised excitement in his voice.
"Heh, wow Ash," Brock laughed half-heartedly. "It's sure great to see you back to your old self again!"
"Yup!" Ash grinned widely, sinking down onto the sofa, clutching Pikachu to him. "I just LOVE Christmas!"
~*~
(One month later - Cianwood)
~*~
Anju scowled openly at Jyou from across the room. Misty rolled her eyes; she could practically hear Anju's thoughts - after all, she heard them voiced often enough.
"Oh sugar, he's not the one for you and you know it - you two just look…wrong together ya know?"
Misty always wondered if maybe Anju knew more about her past and Ash than she let on, but she knew that was impossible.
But despite Anju's warnings, she and Jyou were officially a couple. Sometimes, a little voice inside Misty, the one that had been telling her to stay with Ash in the first place, told her that she only coupled herself with Jyou because she was trying to force herself to get over Ash…
Anju uncrossed her long legs and strode over to grab the TV guide off the coffee table in the communal sitting room the two girls shared. Taking care of her long, gold painted fingernails, Anju leafed through the pages looking bored. Jyou sat on the sofa texting someone on a mobile phone. Misty sat by the steamed up window, drawing three happy people sitting on a blob with a Lapras shell with the tip of her finger. Suddenly, Jyou's voice broke the silence.
"Anju, check what time the Indigo League finals are on tomorrow will ya?" A sigh escaped Misty, shuddering her entire body as she swept her palm over the wet window, annihilating her art.
"The commentary starts noon, the match at half twelve," she yawned, placing the TV guide cover down on the table. "It's that sweet little 12 year old girl with the killer Politoed verses the Master right?" Jyou nodded; Misty stared out of the tiny smear she'd cleared in the window. Jyou stood up and pulled his coat on.
"I've gotta go baby," he said, kissing Misty on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
"Oh I'm going to be out tomorrow," Misty bluffed.
"Out where?"
"Out a million miles away from any television," she thought.
~*~
Anju shuffled into the living room in her dressing gown and slippers the next morning, to find a note taped to the TV from Misty, saying that she'd gone off to do some special training. Shrugging her shoulders, Anju reached over to grab the TV guide, but found it was gone. Cursing under her breath, Anju walked yawning into Misty's bedroom to find the desired magazine in several pieces on Misty's bed. In fact, the only page that was still intact was the front cover, a profile shot of the Pokémon Master, Ash Ket-something or other.
On closer inspection, Anju found that Misty had simply torn out the 8 page interview and life history of Ash Ket-something or other, and crumpled them into balls, and seemingly flung them around the room. Bemused, Anju walked around the bedroom and picked them up. Misty was sure acting weird lately.