DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon.

A/N: I'm gonna be quick cos I'm tired, I'm not even signing on to MSN because I'm that buggered. Unusual? Just slightly! Anyways read on, we're getting closer to the end, wooo!

Chapter twenty five - Day Two: Judgment Day

I woke up when Ash's kisses on the back of my neck became my alarm clock and I couldn't wipe off the initial grin that hit my face. What a feeling. So what if nothing had happened because of my oversized stomach? It was still captivating to wake up to his kisses, to know that he loved me first thing in the morning when my hair was a mess and my eyes were full of sleep dust.

"Hey" I said sleepily as I turned to face him.

"Good morning my soon-to-be victorious goddess" Ash greeted me.

"I thought you were the one who was supposed to be victorious" I yawned.

"Win or lose today, I am always victorious because of the one person lying here beside me" Ash said softly. He kissed me tenderly when he had finished speaking and I responded with as much passion as I could muster at 8 o'clock in the morning. My gut was telling me that today was the day. Ash would win the trial and we would walk free from Mom's bitter grasp forever.

"You want breakfast?" Ash asked when the kiss was finally halted.

"Sounds good" I replied. And that morning, just for the hell of it, I was treated to breakfast in bed. For just that morning I considered myself the luckiest girl in the world, no trial could bring that down. Especially a trial Ash was gonna win.

We still had a lot of time to kill before the trial restarted but this was achieved by yet another meeting with Jenny to confirm our witnesses for that day - me, Ash and Delia. She said it was a move that would probably cause a lot of whispers to start up, especially since she had chosen not to cross-examine Violet, but she said that us three were the major keys to the truth. No matter what the prosecution threw in our faces, even they wouldn't be able to deny that Mom had been harsh beyond compare and that she deserved no sort of financial rewards.

I passed a calendar in the hotel room after the meeting and realised with a jolt that it was the fifteenth of April - exactly one week before my due date. At least we didn't have to worry about this baby being too premature. However, I was worried about the whole adoption process. Sarah was probably calling frantically, wondering where the hell I was and if Ash was ever going to sign those papers.

We were going back to Pallet Town the next day and I couldn't wait to get away from my mother. Seeing her the day before had really shaken me, although I had told myself that she couldn't do anything to me. As embarrassing as it was to admit, I was still scared by her. She had dominated my life for the most part and had made me more unhappy than anyone ever had.

"Come on Mist, it's time to go and rise for the honorable judge" Brock announced as he poked his head into my room.

"It is?" I asked in confusion. God, where had the time gone? I grabbed my handbag and followed him out the door but not before grabbing his shoulder and eyeing him severely. "Do you honestly think Ash will win today?" I asked.

"Does it matter what I think? He puts his faith in you because you are the one thing he lets into his heart. If you think he can win, he knows in his heart he can win" Brock replied.

"I think he can win" I said quietly.

"That's the spirit. Let's go kick some motherly ass" Brock grinned. I laughed and followed him to the hall where Delia and Ash were waiting. Delia was looking nervous and I couldn't blame her. Public appearances were not her forte and I was pretty much in the same boat. All those people watching me, wanting answers, wanting me to say the right thing…

"You'll be fine" Ash assured me as if he was reading my mind.

"If you say so" I sighed. And true to Brock's word, I was soon rising for the honorable judge. This time I didn't stand up as if I had just sat on a tack but instead calmly ascended (on swollen ankles) and kept a non-expressive face on for show. No way was anyone going to figure out how truly nervous I was about all this.

All the protocol went through, case number so and so, Mom versus my boyfriend, yada yada yada. Even after only a second show of this I was no stranger to it. The judge proclaimed that it was the defense who would be calling their witnesses today and with that Jenny the Magnificent took her cue.

"Defense calls Misty Waterflower to the stand."

Okay, I was first up. Gave me less time to grow nervous and also gave me the opportunity to get this over and done with. Ash smiled at me before I slowly walked up, trying to ooze dignity but feeling somewhat clumsy at this attempt.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

Oh help me God. Please help me. I swallowed my nerves away and answered with as much aloofness as I could put on. That was the only deceit I would be performing today.

"I do." The guy and the Bible went out of my sight and Jenny slowly came walking towards me. Her eyes were severe but I still saw the little messages of reassurance printed in them.

"Miss Waterflower, why are you even at this trial? It's not you going up for charges of any sort."

"I'm here because my boyfriend is up for charges that are false and I want to be here to support him. I love him" I added. Hey, I had been told to tell the truth, I was doing exactly that.

"Okay, that's fair enough. Is there any other reason?" Jenny burned her eyes into mine and I couldn't help avoiding them.

"My…my mother is the one who's suing him."

"Now the jury knows all this, they know the facts of this case. I've brought you up here so you can tell your side of the story and to let them know the facts behind this case. When you're ready Misty, I'd like you to tell me and everyone else here the kind of relationship you had with your mother" Jenny announced. I took a quick glimpse at Mom's cold eyes before I started. Not exactly the confidence boost I needed but maybe the incentive to be as damaging as possible whilst still being honest.

"My mother and I had a very volatile relationship while I was living here in Cerulean City. She would yell at me, threaten me, punish me for things I don't consider wrong…"

"What kinds of things?" Jenny interrupted.

"Not being able to live up to my sisters' talents when it came to swimming and performing. Falling in love with someone who's apparently irresponsible but who was the world's youngest Pokémon Master and who couldn't afford to be irresponsible. Nearly drowning."

"She punished you for nearly drowning?" Jenny asked in astonishment. I don't think she knew about that one.

"Well, she didn't punish me exactly. She said I was stupid and that she was ashamed of me" I admitted in a strangled voice. This was harder than I had expected it to be.

"How did you feel when she said this to you?"

"I should've been used to it, considering she practically told me she wished I had never been born. But then again, she said that when she found out I had slept with Ash" I said thoughtfully. "But it still hurt. Everything she said to me hurt."

I could see the jurors furiously scrawling down notes. What were they writing? 'Too overdramatic.' 'The poor wee thing, what a sod of a mother.' 'This is gonna be a toughie. God I could go for a beer.'

Well, I'm sure none of them were writing down that last statement.

"We've already heard that your mother slapped you when she found out you were pregnant. What else did she do or say?" Jenny asked gently.

"She told Ash that the slap would knock some sense into me, that I was stupid and that since he cared about me so much he wouldn't mind finding me a place to stay. Then she said she was going to call Dad, which she did" I replied.

"Can you please tell the court what her actions were while you were on your summer vacation."

I had been expecting this one. Not mentioning the video camera would have cost us a lot of points but Jenny had brought it up and, I'll say it again, the truth shall set you free. Or at least, it would set Ash free.

"She had installed a security video camera into the bach me and my sisters were staying at and if I didn't go out to a party or to socialise she would call and demand why."

"So she was pretty much spying on you." It was a statement, not a question, and I nodded to Jenny's words. Mom had her eyes directed at the floor and now the judge was taking notes too. "And she would be angry or punish you when you didn't go out." Another statement, another nod. Jenny's face suddenly broke out into a smile. "Thank you, Misty. No further questions."

Oh dammit. The prosecution wanted to cross-examine. I felt my palms go damp with sweaty nerves and reality start to mesh into a nightmare.

"Miss Waterflower, isn't it true you slept with the defendant when you were fifteen years old?"

SHIT! I didn't think anyone would bring that up! But then again, wouldn't everyone have figured it out? I eyed him coolly, totally deceiving my nerves as I did so.

"That's true, sir. But may I just point out before you go on that what I did was my choice, and that no one else has any right to blame Ash for statutory rape or anything of the sort. I am the only one who can do that and I don't intend to."

The lawyer scowled and I continued to stare him down. He wasn't bringing Ash down for the sake of my mother. There was just no way.

"No further questions."

What a relief! It hadn't been too grueling but it had been enough and I gratefully walked back to my seat next to Ash. He had looked deep in thought when I'd been up there but now he was flashing me yet another smile and grasping my hand.

"Well done." The words were few and simple but they were enough to lead me to believe I had done alright. I sighed and smiled at the same time before Delia took her place in the stand.

Her questions included what my mother had said to me over the phone in the Ketchum household, how upset I had been at her comments, even the whole ordeal with Mark and the media had been thrown in there somewhere. Mom had told Mark everything, and Delia said she wouldn't be surprised if Mom had done it to indirectly spill the news around the world.

Bless Delia. I never knew she could be so brave.

The prosecution didn't want to cross-examine her and I think she was just as grateful as I had been at being allowed to step down. But then again, she was probably as anxious as I was at watching her son take to the stand. The prosecution table glared at him like they were finally going to be able to bring him down. They had been a little weak so far, but this would be it.

Yeah. Whatever.

"Mr. Ketchum, how well do you know the Waterflower family?" Jenny asked.

"I've known Misty since I was ten, I battled against her sisters at that age too, her father I met yesterday and her mother I met last year" Ash replied simply.

"Let's say you're around twenty four years of age. You're still going out with Misty and despite the fact you made her pregnant aged fifteen, you still love her and want to marry her. Would you ask any member of her family for their blessing?"

I hadn't expected that kind of question, one that's set in the future. What a nice thought, Ash asking me to marry him aged twenty four. I smiled as daydreams threatened to break my concentration but quickly snapped back when Ash gave his answer.

"To tell you the truth, I would only have the guts to ask her father" Ash slightly laughed.

"This isn't just because of this trial, is it?" Jenny asked.

"Oh no, of course not. If this trial hadn't taken place I would still be scared to approach Mrs. Waterflower. Before I met her she branded me a no-life or home wrecker or anything that gave me a bad name. I thought she was just upset because I had broken her daughter's heart but even when I've promised to support Mist and always be there for her she has continued to hate me" Ash replied. "And I wouldn't ask anything from anyone who has upset Misty the way I've seen her do so."

Oh Ash. You are truly my knight in shining armor.

That was the best piece of evidence he gave that day. By now it was obvious that Mom had done more than a little damage to me and the rest of the questions were pretty standard - how do you feel about Mrs. Waterflower, why did you refuse to settle, blah blah blah. Mom's lawyer, with his head in his hands, declined to cross-examine and the jury was sent to debate their decision.

For two nail biting hours we waited. We drank coffee, we played video games in the arcade across the street, we talked, we did anything to keep our minds off it. Despite my confidence at a victory for my beloved, I was still wondering if the jury would see things the way I did.

We were called back into the court room as the jury filed its way back in. Twelve strangers, twelve decisions - unanimous decisions? God I hoped so. If they said the words 'hung jury' I would cry. I didn't want them to be undecided. I didn't see how they could be, but maybe I was just being biased.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?"

"We have, your Honor." Oh God, I couldn't bear this. I squeezed Ash's hand so tight I could've broken a knuckle or two and continued to stare intently at the head juror.

"Please inform the court of your decision."

"Of case number 314, Waterflower vs. Ketchum on the claims of emotional damage, we find the defendant, Ashton Ketchum…"

There was one of those dreaded pauses. I could've torn myself apart in frustration before the verdict finally hit my ears.

"Not guilty."

I heard a bang from the prosecution table and realised Mom had slumped her head onto the table in despair. She should've seen it coming. She shouldn't have even tried. But I only witnessed this for a second before Ash locked his lips on mine in a kiss that signified triumph and gratefulness.

We were free. And it had truly been a team effort.

*******

Of course, celebrations ensued that night, and we made no attempt to make excuses for doing something extra special. Ash treated me, Delia and Brock to dinner at a particularly nice restaurant, although Delia fiercely protested and I swore I had nothing to wear.

"That's what you said when I told you I'd take you out to celebrate. I won't hear of it Mist. Just put any old thing on, I don't care, you look fantastic in anything to me" Ash had replied.

"Trust you to say that" I muttered.

So I wound up in a sort of nice red dress I had brought along just in case and for once I decided not to care about the looks people gave me. Staring wouldn't change anything about the situation I was in so why should I give a damn?

The restaurant we went to was called the Dux de Lux, and they don't add the de Lux on the end for nothing. Every measurement of dining was extended to be as flash as possible. Flowers, candles, music, a dance floor…it was the complete works. I'd never even heard of it or known it had existed while I was living in Cerulean. Too upper brow for me, I guess.

Dinner was beyond words. Superb just doesn't cut it. I had to wonder why Ash was so insistent to pay for something so expensive but I decided not to worry for the meantime. We chatted and laughed, all four of us feeling a weight now off our shoulders for good. I decided, as I looked into those sparkling eyes of Ash's that hadn't sparkled in so long, that if Mom tried anything stupid again I would seriously slap a restraining order on her. I didn't want anyone worrying over her antics again.

"Care to dance?" I had been so absorbed in my thoughts I hadn't noticed Ash's outstretched hand inviting me to the dance floor.

"I can't dance" I replied in a panic, my eyes darting over couples who were perfectly executing foxtrots or whatever it was they were doing.

"Just follow my lead" Ash instructed. I reluctantly placed my hand in his and followed him out just as a number was finishing.

"Oh, too bad, song's finished" I muttered as I tried to walk back to the table.

"Misty" Ash laughed, pulling me back with the grip he had on my arm. "Come on, it's not so scary once you get into it." He held me close, so close I realised my petty worries were drifting away. His arms, himself, was a barrier from all I thought could ever hurt me. He loved me and he wanted me to be happy, which is more than I can say for certain members of my family.

"Hey I like this song" Ash told me as the opening chords filled the room.

"I've never heard of it" I said.

"It's from the 70s so you don't have to foxtrot, don't worry" Ash grinned. Although the song was quite upbeat, Ash lead me on a slow dream-like path that I traveled on through love and triumph. Nothing and no one could beat us now, and I smiled at the lyrics Ash sung into my ear.

"I feel the sunshine on my face

When I just close my eyes and I trace

The footsteps to your daddy's summer place

Where we spent our early summer days."

"You certainly didn't spend your early summer days at Daddy's bach, except on the porch. You were talking to me through mail slots" I pointed out. Ash laughed at my comments before launching into the chorus.

"When you gave your love to me

And I remember perfectly

High above all time and space

And I remember summer days."

He kissed my forehead as the chorus repeated. "Maybe that chorus is a little more relevant."

"High above all time and space because I gave my love to you. Yes, makes a lot of sense and is very true" I smiled. "And I'll always remember those summer days. Always." I kissed him to prove it but had to pull away suddenly when an unfamiliar pain ran throughout my body. I grimaced in an attempt not to cry out and realised what was happening just as I caught the worried look on Ash's face.

"Misty? What's wrong?" I replied to him when the pain finally dissolved.

"Uh, Ash…it's happening."

"What's happening?" Ash asked. I had to smile at his dimness, even in a situation as precarious as this.

"The baby is happening."

A/N: Eeek! REALLY close to the end now huh? Haha. Well that's all from me tonight, another one tomorrow if all goes to plan. Nearly didn't get this one up so I hope you're all grateful! LOL, later everyone!