I updated soon like I promised! There it goes, probably the longest chapter up until this point.

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Chapter 8

It was her fault. She shouldn't have fallen asleep so early. It was 3am and Misty had not a drop of sleep in her anymore. She tossed and turned, wrestling against the pillow, but couldn't keep her eyes shut. She sat up, frustrated, and kicked the blankets out. Misty groaned as she realised she was still wearing her jeans and usual t-shirt, which already showed that had left temporary marks on her skin.

Next to her, Togetic was emitting a soft breathing sound, almost as light snoring and she almost giggled at the sweetness of the scene. Her eyes were wide awake, revealing her awareness. She was far too awake to lie down again, so she stood up and begun to pace. Her eyes settled wickedly on the door, and with a smirk, she opened it, letting herself slide through the half opened door.

The hallways seemed narrow and endless in the darkness of the night. However, gracing her hand through the cold wall, she could walk well without falling. She must have been roaming like that for at least five minutes until she leaned against the door and folded her arms over her chest, running out of ideas. She was just beginning to understand that she had at least 4 hours free to full, and was already getting bored. Something twinkled in her eye as she thought up an idea.

She descended the stairs quietly and found herself in the main hallway that had lost the bright yellow hue the daylight gave it, and became much gloomier than she remembered it. Squinting her eyes to see better, she could make her way to the very end. She placed both hands on the last door of the corridor, and almost withdrew them as she felt it ice cold. After some seconds, she let out a breath, ready to embrace the cold of the deserted landscape she had seen the day before. As she pushed the door open, she found herself in awe.

The landscape, as small as it was, was even more beautiful at night. And it wasn't deserted at all. The bonfire was on and glowing, though he fire itself was much diminished, and at the border, there were only dying embers. However, it was enough light to illuminate softly a figure sitting at one side, on a nearby log.

It was Gary, sitting near the embers engrossed in a book that looked way too thick to be any sort of fun. He raised his head as soon as he felt her presence and looked taken aback. She froze in the doorway, the door still wide open, taking in his image. He didn't say anything at first: perhaps he was far too shocked, but with some moments to recover, the usual spark returned to his eyes. She could see it reflecting the embers, which had magically started to burn a little stronger.

"In or out?" he asked. His deep voice slaughtered the astonishment and she shook her head, trying to react. After hesitating she stepped forwards and softly closed the door behind her. He saw her approach him and sit next to him, and smirked. "Should you be sleeping or something?" He asked, closing the thick book and laying it next to him. Her eyes wavered and she nodded in dismay.

"Shouldn't you be?" She asked back. He just chuckled, shrugging. "Fair enough" he answered. "I've worked with gramps before. He works in the wackiest hours. He woke me up about one hour ago, and couldn't sleep so..." He drifted off. Misty stole a glance of the book and as she read 'Emily Rutherford' she snickered. The authoress had been a great family friend and was now a well known scientist.

"I see" She said smiling. "I should be in bed too. May promised she'd take me to a party" She commented in the good spirit of just making conversation. However, Gary seemed to stare at her.

"What? No way! Don't go there." He protested.

At the first instance, she was downright confused. "What? Why the hell not?" Gary seemed reluctant. He tapped his foot against the ground and rolled his eyes. He was in full stubborn mode and all indicated that he wasn't going to step down from it anytime soon. "Because!" He shouted back.

Misty let out an irritated breath as she lost her patience. She clenched her fist and glared. She paused, in awe. "Is there even someone civilized under that monkey suit?" She yelled back, crisping her fingers at such immature reaction.

"Oh, that's rich" He muttered under his breath, yet loud enough for her to hear. "I'm only saying this for your own damn sake" he said exasperated. Misty quickly losing her patience and stood up, infuriated. "How, exactly?" she waved her arm around in obvious frustration. Every time she thought she made progress with him, it seemed like she built a stronger bridge between her and him. The bridge, however, never seemed to last.

"Well, if you only had half a brain you would have let me just say that those parties are full of leeches that will probably try to take advantage of you!" He yelled back as he stood up as well, joining her in her irate whirlwind. They backed away from the bonfire as it seemed explode by some sort of invisible fuel. Misty shifted, uncomfortable. Inside, she felt the slightest tingle of warmth saying that in some level, that was actually sweet, but she was so mad at the time, that tingle was suffocated very easily.

"Well, Mister hero wanna-be, what told you I'm this damsel in distress that can't defend herself!" She argued back, taking a step forward to face him better. Gary rolled his eyes.

"Well, because you're so goddamn naïve, that's why!" He said, closing in on her. Misty fumed as she clenched her fists again. "I'm naïve? Where did you get that?" She seethed.

"Because you've been here all these days and you still don't realise..." He stopped short and widened his eyes as he became conscious of what was coming out of his mouth. The apprehension in his face was tangible, and his face was so close to hers I that his apprehension almost transferred to her body, because her temper seemed to soothe again, as she regained her composure. She looked at him trying to understand, obviously distressed trying to make sense of his unfinished sentence.

Misty sighed heavily. "I still don't realise what?" Her tired voice asked him, merely above a whisper and almost breaking. Gary's eyes were almost pleading as he looked at her with something she couldn't even name. He let out a breath and became aware of their proximity, but didn't do anything to distance himself. Why couldn't his heart stop pounding? The mere sound was making him almost deaf. He looked briefly at the ground and back at her again, with a new found determination that made her breath get caught in her throat.

"Misty, I..." He started. However strong his determination to speak was, his mind betrayed his spirit and drew constant blanks. Gary struggled trying to fish out words, but couldn't find the right ones. Misty expectantly studied him with a glint of sadness in her eyes. Gary inhaled sharply and reached out; with his hand he brushed a strand of red hair out of her face.

Her stone eyes seem to waver as her tough facade weakened with the gentle gesture. It wasn't something she thought could come from him, but the image of him, so open, so raw, antagonized the image of him sitting around the house, unattached, uncaring, indifferent. What had changed? Gary let out a breath as if the heaviest load had been placed over his chest. He broke eye contact and looked nervously at every corner of the landscape except her.

"I...um..." He cursed himself for not knowing what to say and losing his concentration. He always knew what to say, how to act, the best lines, the best moves, every wink, and every gesture and now... He couldn't even remember his name. Where had his wit gone? The trademark smug smile, the way he could easily change subject if one inconvenienced him. But she was still expectant and quite unsure of how to act in that position. To her, the loss of eye contact had left some sort of emptiness, something unpleasant; something awkward she wanted to get rid of. She looked for his eyes but they dodged hers, so impulsively she reached out and placed her hand on the side of his face, making him face her.

Their eyes met again, and he verified that he still had no words.

But he didn't need words.

So he kissed her. He captured her lips in his own in something that couldn't even be catalogued as impulse, since it shocked him as much as it shocked her. It was more like some sort of force had pushed him to her; and the shove was not wasted as he brought her body closer to his. His hand, chilled by the night's cool air was resting in the back of her neck and it sent shivers down her spine, smothering any attempt of her brain to respond in such moment and intervene. She kissed him back just as fervently and they both felt the bonfire pick up and take dangerous heights. It was almost impossible to relate the image of that flame with the embers she had seen when she walked in but their attention was solely focused on one another.

The kiss continued like a silent battle that neither of them really wanted to win and it was reluctantly broken by the time they were running out of air. As they parted, both of them inhaled sharply and looked at each other not believing themselves. There was a stunned silence that was neither comfortable nor awkward, but it was abruptly broken.

A high pitched bell beeped and his head jerked to his pager.

Blame an Oak's impeccable timing.

The pager read to be an urgent message from his grandfather, which from the basement lab needed his help. He looked back at Misty who was still gawking at him, bewildered, with her hand gracing her lips in disbelief.

The pager beeped again, even louder. Gary ran a hand through his hair in incredulity. He couldn't deem his grandfather could have such a bad timing and interrupt such precious moment. But he was starting out in researching from his hiatus, and his sense of responsibility weighted because he didn't want to leave her now. Not as shocked as she was, not as amazing as it had felt. But the beeper rang again, reminding him of something that he wouldn't have answered to if he didn't know deep down that his relationship with his grandfather was hanging by a weak thread he had to fight to sustain.

He looked back at the door that was the entrance of the hallway and looked back at Misty. "Don't... don't move, It'll be just a second" He pleaded. "Please, don't move" As he ran to the door and disappeared. Misty finally let out a shaky breath and looked around dumb folded. The flame had diminished again and an unexpected feeling of loneliness invaded her. What had she just done? What had they done? Why had she felt that way? The way her reason was emerging from the dark pits of her soul was disrupting the peace she had felt in his arms and was beginning to flood her mind with questions. Her eyes watered as she looked around the landscape, trying to dodge the enquiries.

They were far too painful.

Gary had never run faster in his life. He tripped with a vase, broke it, and didn't care. He ran and turned until he reached the lab and threw the door open. Samuel Oak almost got plastered to the roof at the surprise of seeing him arrive so fast. "Gary!" he greeted and paused "Do you know where the mercury tabs are? Can't find them anywhere..."

Gary's jaw almost dropped. He had ran all the way here for this? He shook his heads in dismay and weakly pointed at the drawer next to the old man. Professor Oak seemed to recollect something from his memory and nodded. "Thanks!" He said apologetically, but Gary just waved it off. He had other things to attend to. Just as he arrived, he ran back down the hallway, tripping over a table with silver trays, making them fall to the ground, but he managed to run into the final door.

He pushed it open and almost flew outside.

But she was gone.

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Gratitude towards:

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Just this: (URL)

(3w) sighost.us/members/midnightmist/hatelove.jpg

- (Just changed some colours, but if anyone knows where the characters are from, please do tell me, since I'd love to give the proper credits to the given artists)

Waii!

Author's note: Ah yes. Some confrontational chapters ahead. I just thought; hey, midnight mist, you always seem to end fics with a kiss. But this is far from over! xD So stay tuned!

Midnight Mist

Haaaaar be my fic, matey. Review or me plank ye! (Man, I suck at pirate)