Revised 8/14-15/05

Proposal
.:
Part 1; Date:.

Ash watched her with an anxious expression etched all over his face.He made a step towards her, but then stepped back into the safe shadows of the hallway. He saw her flip another page of her book, totally unaware of his presence. He felt a nudge from behind and looked to see his faithful pokemon pushing him.

"Pikachu pika!" Pikachu whispered fiercely.

"I know Pikachu!" He whispered back. "But it's not that easy!"

Pikachu's eyes flared in annoyance and his cheeks began to spark with electricity. "Pika Pikachu pika!"

Ash held his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender "Okay! Okay! I'm going!" Turning back to the problem at hand, he took a deep breath, repeated the words in his head, and nervously stepped towards the girl who was curled up in a chair, totally absorbed in the book she was reading. "H-Hey Misty?"

Misty finally snapped out of her 'book world' and smiled up at Ash. "Hey!" She patted the seat next to her. "Have a seat."

Ash nervously shook his head. "N-no t-thanks." He mentally slapped his head. 'Get a hold of yourself Ketchum!'

Misty cocked her head in confusion. "Something wrong Ash?"

Ash opened his mouth, and then closed it. He tried again, but it was the same response.

Worried, Misty placed the book on the chair beside her, got out of her chair and walked up to Ash. "Are you okay?"

"Date!" He blurted out.

"Huh?"

"Will you go on a date with me tonight?" He tried to calm himself by mentally kicking himself, rehearsing what he was supposed to say, even breathing, breathing was good - but it wasn't working too well. At least he'd gotten the worst part out … kind of.

Misty smiled warmly at him, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, is that all? Of course I'll go! Do I have to dress up or anything?"

Ash let out a breath he didn't know he held. "Um, yea, well, um, just dress fancy and junk, and um, the rest is a surprise."

"Alright." Misty remembered something and crossed her arms, her eyes narrow in suspicion. "You DO actually know where we're going this time, don't you?"

Ash crossed his arms and replied indignantly "That was our first date! I didn't know what to do that time! Brock was supposed to help me but he didn't!"

A grin spread on Misty's face and she leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips. "That's the Ash I know. Don't be so nervous! We've gone on dates before."

She grabbed her book from the chair and walked upstairs. Misty stopped at the steps and called back to Ash. "What time?"

"Five!"

Misty looked at her watch and nodded. Quickly she raced into her room to get ready.

Pikachu stepped out from the shadows and walked up to Ash. "Pika, Pikachu pi!" He jumped on Ash's shoulder to pat him on the back. "Chu pika!"

Ash looked at him in annoyance. "Of course it was bad! She might suspect something now!"

"Chu." Pikachu shrugged and jumped of Ash's shoulder to find some ketchup.

Ash groaned and dropped himself on the couch. "Well, this is going to be fun."

The noise of the front door creaking open was heard, but Ash didn't move a muscle.

"Ash?" Came the voice from the hallway.

"In here."

Brock's tanned face soon appeared in the entrance to the room. "Hey Ash! You ready to get Brock's famous make-over?"

Ash moaned into his hands. "I KNEW I shouldn't have asked you to help!"

"Hey, if you want to do this yourself…" Brock smoothly turned on one foot and started to walk away.

"Alright!" Ash reluctantly pushed himself off the couch hesitantly walked to Brock. "Let's get this over with."

"Here we go!" Brock cheered, grabbing Ash's arm and dragging him all the way into his room.

"This has to be the most uncomfortable thing in the world." Ash pulled on his tie and wiggled it around, trying to loosen it. Ash studied himself in the mirror. He was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt under it and a black tie – typical dress style suit. With the use of TONS of gel, Brock managed to get Ash's hair slightly under control and not sticking out everywhere.

Brock grinned, walking over to Ash and pulled his tie back up. Ash wanted to rip it off and choke Brock with it. "You've never had to wear heels or all the stuff girls do."

Ash watched Brock uneasily. "I'm not even going to ask how you know that."

"Good." He excused the previous statements and moved Ash so that he was facing him. "Now let me see you." Brock stepped back to study Ash. "Very nice! Now, I'll go see if Misty is ready, go wait in the living room." Brock started to walk out of the room, but then yelled back, "DON'T SIT DOWN OR GET FUR ON THAT SUIT!"

Ash grinned and shook his head. He opened up a drawer in the dresser beside him and pulled a tiny black box out. He opened it up to inspect its contents then sighed deeply and put in his pocket. Taking a deep breath, he headed into the living room to wait for Misty.

A coughing sound made Ash's head jerk up to look at the stairs. Brock stood at he bottom and bowed. "You're lady, awaits."

Ash's gaze moved from Brock, to what looked like, an angel at the top of the stairs.

"M-Misty!"

Misty smiled shyly and carefully walked down the stairs, holding on to the rail so as to not slip in her high heeled shoes.

"You look beautiful!"

Misty blushed. She really did. She wore a dark, blue sparkly dress with no straps. The dress came down to her ankles with a long slit on her right side to show her shapely legs. Ash noticed she wore the silver ankle bracelet he had gotten her for their one-year anniversary. She wore white gloves that came up past her elbows. Around her neck she wore the gold necklace with a water droplet that Ash had bought her for her 15th birthday. Her hair was let down, which was now long enough to reach the middle of her back. She had to small braids in the front that was pulled back and pinned in her hair, almost like a crown. "I feel like this is the prom. I hope I'm not too overly dressed."

Ash shook himself out of his daze and took Misty's arm in his. "Nope, just perfect!"

Brock grinned at the couple. An imaginary light bulb flashed above his head and he raced to the door.

"Brock," Misty asked when Brock held the door open for them both. "Why are you dressed in a tux, are you coming with us?"

Brock grinned and nodded. "Yep! I'm your chauffeur."

"Pika!" Pikachu hopped onto Brock's also wearing a mini tux specially made for Pikachus.

"And Pikachu's my helper too." He winked at Pikachu. Misty smiled at them both.

Brock quickly closed the door behind them and raced to the car to open it for them.

"I think I can get used to this." Misty giggled into Ash's ear.

Ash returned the grin, doing his best to not look as nervous as he felt as they both waited patiently for Brock to get into the front seat.

The drive to the restaurant was fairly normal, except for the fact that Ash was uncharacteristically quiet. He sat in the car with his hand in his pocket, nervously fingering something. Misty noticed, but didn't question. She just continued to make conversation with Ash and told him about the wonderful book she was reading.

Misty stopped talking when the car lurked to a stop. She watched as Brock stepped out of the car, followed by Pikachu to open the door to let the couple out. Ash climbed out first and turned to reach for Misty's hand. As he pulled her out, Misty got her first look of the place she was being taken to. It was beautiful! Her eyes widened and sparkled as she scanned the area.

It was your typical fancy restaurant, there was a drop off area and a small fountain was placed on either side of the entrance with plants surrounding it. As they passed the fountains, Misty noted with glee that baby goldeen were swimming around.

Ash couldn't help but smile at her reaction. Everything was going well so far. She defiantly seemed impressed with the place, and he was pleased with himself for picking such a place. He felt himself begin to calm with each squeal of delight she gace – but then of course his thoughts would go back to the reason they were here and he'd break into a cold sweat.

Inside was just as beautiful as the outside. It was dimly lit, but Misty could see fountains everywhere and tanks with many water pokemon in it, even a few Dratini! It was clear that this was a water-based restaurant, and Misty loved every minute of it!

"Like it?" Ash whispered into her ear as they were escorted to their table.

"I love it, Ash!" Misty whispered back, still in awe. Ash smiled with satisfaction.

The host seated them and handed them menus before leaving to seat other guests.

"What are Brock and Pikachu doing?" Misty questioned once settled in.

"They were going to go look around at the stores here." Ash answered, looking at his menu.

Misty also glanced through the menu, here eyes never ceasing to loose their sparkle. "Ash, all this stuff looks so good! What are you getting?"

'It's a good thing I saved up, if I didn't, the only think I would be able to get is a glass of water' "I think I'm going to get a steak."

"Me too." Misty closed her menu just as the waiter came over.

"My you both look all dressed up tonight!" The waiter smiled cheerily at the couple. "You may call me Jame – uh, Jamie,"

"Can we have the steaks please?" Ash asked, pointing to the item on the menu.

"How would you like it done?"

Ash looked at Misty. "I would like it medium-rare please."

Jamie turned to Ash. "And for you sir?"

"Rare, as rare as you can make it. I want it almost mooing! In fact, just slap a band-aid on it and hand it here." Misty and the waiter looked at him oddly.

"Ash!" Misty scolded lightly.

"It was a joke!" Misty made of face while the waiter took away their menus. Ash shrugged. "What? I like it rare!"

Misty simply smiled back at him and shook her head. She turned her attention back to the scenery around her, something Ash was glad for. He began to squirm in his seat. He could feel the perspiration form on his forehead. Questions were popping in and out of his head constantly. 'Is she happy? Did I make a mistake yet? I should have just said rare and leave it at that. Is now a good time? Is it to soon? Where's the waiter? Did he look familiar? Should I do it now? Can she tell I'm nervous?' Ash shook his head furiously. 'Stop thinking Ash! It's bad for your health.'

Misty finally looked at Ash. "Are you okay?"

Ash slowly nodded. 'Now or never Ketchum.' "Yeah… I wanted to ask you something…." He took a deep breath. He opened his mouth –

CRASH

"HEY! What are you doin'!" a voice cried from the kitchen.

"Sorry!" A screechy voice apologized.

"Sorry does- hey, you don't work here!"

"Eeee!"

Misty turned to Ash in alarm. "Doesn't that sound like our waiter – Ash?"

Ash had fallen off his chair. He sighed and picked himself up. Trying to regain his composure, he took a deep breath and dusted himself off, trying to look like nothing had happened. He sat back down in his chair and looked at Misty, ready to try again. "Misty –"

"AIIIIEEEEEE!" Ash and Misty's had both snapped over to look at the person who made the scream.

It was an older girl, looked like she was in her twenties; a Meowth stood beside and held a remote.

Beside the Meowth, the blonde waitress grinned and laughed, as she pulled off the waitress' uniform.

Misty gasped while across from her Ash groaned.

Beneath the waitress uniform was another black uniform with a big, red 'R'.

Smile Jesus loves ya!