A/N: Yay, chapter 12!

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Chapter 12

It was the beginning of an unspoken reconciliation, but she could still feel the hesitation whenever he walked into a room and found her to be alone. There was still one thin wall of ice in between and she couldn't figure out who had built it there, she couldn't yet determine if it had been her or him. After thinking for two days, Misty made up her mind. She had to at least try to apologize, try to demolish that last frontier that even though was almost imperceptible; it was something that would steal the slumber out of her at night.

She had barely even seen him ever since he helped her feed Togetic. Gary had continued to overwork himself and spent too much time locked up in the lab, something that disturbed his very grandfather, who was rapidly growing preoccupied by his grandson's health. The last time she had crossed paths with him had been two days ago, when she decided to venture off to the wing of the house she had not been to, and got lost for about two hours. Before she knew it the day had grown dark and the hall lights were not yet on, so she tried to walk through the darkness without falling down some unknown stairs.

It was then when she had seen a light flash on at the end of the hallway, and without hesitation she walked towards it like a fool would cling to that last hope. It wasn't much light, since all she could see was the light seeping through the door of a room. She knocked on it before entering, and when Gary opened the door, looking worn out and tired after a day of researching her heart got caught in her throat. They had stood there for a few minutes in silence as she sweatdropped.

"I got lost" She had tried to say, sheepishly, looking apologetically up at him, who just stared back, bewildered. He nodded, believing instantly in her words and half smiled. It had been there Gary told her how the mansion used to be an Inn that had gone out of business for the lack of tourism in Pallet when his great grandparents had arrived to town. They had purchased it along with some land, and had fixed it up until it was what it was today, the biggest mansion in Pallet, holding about 30 bedrooms in two main wings.

He had led her to her bedroom, room 17, back to her wing that held rooms 15-30. She had been surprised how comfortable it had been to walk through the halls of that great mansion trailing after him, listening to his voice be the only thing separating them from silence. He had waved goodbye and disappeared back into the dark, leaving her wide awake in her bedroom, anxiously walking in circles.

She hadn't seen him since. She would wait until breakfast hoping her newfound determination would not fade then.

So when May interrupted her meditation trance by banging at her door, she felt something gut-wrenching in her stomach. "Carrot head come on! I'm starving!" She whined from the other side of the door.

Misty grinned and unlocked the door, and before letting her in, she felt May take a hold of her wrist as she did every morning and drag her down stairs. "Come on May, It's not like you'll run out of food" Misty joked.

May grinned and tightened her grip on her wrist in a joking manner, and seemed to run a little faster almost costing Misty her balance. So they stumbled into the dining room, almost tripping over one another. Professor Oak almost jumped up his chair at the head of the table as Gary bit back a snicker.

"What are you snickering about, dork?" May said playfully raising an eyebrow as she took a seat right across Gary.

"At your knack to appear older but behave like a 5 year old" He stated grinning as reached for the coffee mug but Professor Oak reached for it first and looked smugly at his grandson. He poured himself a cup as he took Gary's mug and poured him some coffee and added sugar to the cup. Gary raised an eyebrow at his grandfather. "Hey gramps, what radioactive pokemon bit you and made you nice?" he asked sarcastically with no real intention of insulting him. Samuel Oak rolled his eyes at the suspicion.

"Behave bro, gramps' being kind to ya" May said her best mocking smile.

Gary rolled his eyes. "Thanks old man", his rather unattached voice finally broke through.

A couple of minutes later, May put her fork away and stabbed the cheese with it, leaving it there. "I'm stuffed".

Misty raised a suspicious eyebrow. "You said you were starving. You barely ate anything!"

May smiled as she winked. "Ah yes. The praiseworthy life of the modern female" she said sighing. Misty raised an eyebrow and shook her head, dismissing it. They remained in casual conversation for another 10 minutes, until they felt the last of the breakfast was almost done. May stood up, used to being the first one out of the table since her agenda was always filled with commitments that started sometimes as early as 8am.

Professor Oak seemed anxious and tapped his foot against the floor. Misty seized a moment of his distraction to do exactly what some time ago Gary had done to her. She mouthed "We need to talk" to him instantly lighting a spark of curiosity in his eyes. They stood up simultaneously, but he followed her out to the living room.

Misty looked around anxiously. "Um... Gary... I" Misty exhaled trying to find the determination she had a few minutes ago. "Gary I just wanted to apologize. If I hurt you in any way..."

"Red" his confused voice interrupted her. He motioned her to cut her sentence short. "No need to fret"

Misty seemed downright confused. "But I thought you got a least a little mad, right? I completely cut you out. Not even a warning, not anything"

Gary's eyes wavered at the memory. "Look. Fine. Yes. At the beginning I was a bit scorned, there. Happy now?" He said folding his arms over his chest.

Misty tilted her head, not quite content with the half done apology" But aren't you mad...?" Misty asked.

Gary pretended to be annoyed by rolling his eyes. "I'm not"

She seemed relieved but her curiosity always got the best out of her. There was something missing, something lacking there, maybe it was the feeling that it had been a little too easy, or too short. She wrinkled up her forehead as looked back at him. "Why?" She asked. "I'm mad at myself, why aren't you...?"

Gary let out a breath, feeling uncomfortable. He hesitated to give out an answer but her pleading eyes made him comply. "Look, Misty, I had some time to think..." He drifted off for a couple of seconds. "I had no right to be angry. I'm not gonna force you into anything you don't want by simply holding my breath. It was immature of me, if anything I should be thankful—" he winced as he felt himself say too much

Misty visibly perked up at his last words. "Thankful?" She pushed.

He sighed. "Mist. Before you even got here, we weren't a family. We were just three different people living three different lives under the same damn overly-sized roof" he said throwing his hands up in the air. "You changed that" he slumped his shoulders as he felt something he only remembered to have felt that night by the bonfire. Suddenly a wave of fatigue settled upon his shoulders. He let out a breath in dismay, feeling he was no longer in control of his own words.

"I'm sorry if I scared you" He proceeded "The last thing I wanted... was to push you away" his tired voice was only a mere mumble now, but it made Misty freeze in her spot. The words felt heart-warming to a level that was even burning through her chest and it bewitched her. The way he spoke to the air, as if he were speaking to himself and she just happened to be there listening to his inner monologue made her feel a fraction of the solitary Gary that hid below the irony and wit.

His concentration seemed to snap back to the real world as he focused on her. "So... anyway..."

Misty chuckled uncomfortably. "Yeah... I get it. I... I should go" She said uneasily as she pointed towards the exit and turned around.

And she really didn't want to leave. She wanted to be able to keep a long conversation with him like she used to, like they had done that day he had "kidnapped" her, like she constantly remembered to have, and wanted to have again. So it wasn't odd for her to be walking towards the exit of the room as slowly as possible, almost taking baby steps, her eyes shut and her hands made fists, chanting prayers in her mind that could make the door magically close make him call her back.

"Misty" He called after her

Misty felt an unprecedented wave of relief wash over hear, and promptly turned around at the sound of him pronouncing her name. "Yes?" She meekly said.

There was something still bothering him and the apprehension in his face was tangible. He seemed to tilt his head as he lost all the hesitation within, he seemed to back out of the thought for a second, but then clenched his jaw in newfound determination, his eyes darted around the room as if it were new and he were just beginning to see it for the first time.. "That night..." He drifted off. He didn't need to specify, she instantly knew what night he was referring to "Did you feel it? Anything?"

She felt herself skip a beat.

"Yes." Normally, she would have lied, she would have denied any sort of feeling, and right there, her coward self would have lied as well, but her heart got in the way of her reasoning and blurted out the answer before she even understood fully what he had asked her. The affirmation caught him by surprise. He had been looking for something, anything, to erase the last stand of hope she might have felt the same, to provide him some sort of closure, and move on. He hadn't been expecting such a raw answer, followed by such vulnerability in her eyes.

Gary widened his eyes as he recovered from the shock and took a step towards where she was standing "That morning... did you—"

Misty drew a breath in, and nodded timidly.

For an instant, he was taken aback. It was something he hadn't been expecting, not like that, and certainly not right there. His breathing started to demand much more effort as he took another step forward and didn't find her backing away, but instead saw her inch closer to him as well.

"And now...?" he trailed off, in a whisper.

"God, yes" She replied, interrupting him.

They stood for a moment, contemplating each other, trying to determine who wore the most shocked expression on their face.

Still flabbergasted by her answers, he almost thought he was dreaming when he saw her take a step forward and claim his lips in such demanding way, gently nibbling his lower lip until he promptly realized what was just happening and returned the kiss with as much fervor, almost bruising one another with the despair in them. They kissed sheltered by the soft light of the room, and he pulled her closer to him by pressing the small of her back. She wrapped her arms around his chest, loving how she could feel his back muscles shifting through the fabric of his shirt as her hand moved up his back. They parted for an instant to catch their breaths but she kissed him again, more than willing to lose the breath that she had just drawn in. Gary welcomed it, caressing the back of her neck with his thumb. Neither could even feel the ground they knew they were standing on, because in that instant there was nothing in the world but them, no time, no awkwardness that could get in the way.

And there were no doubts or apprehensions on her eyes this time, because as their lips separated again, she found the comfort by hiding her face in the warmth of his neck. Gary just wrapped his arms around her firmly. He wasn't going to let her go again. It was where she felt safe, hidden in his scent, feeling his heartbeat, and the warmth of his arms wrapped around her.

For Gary, the room was spinning, but it took his a while to realize that wasn't really normal or supposed to be happening. He felt his eyelids grow immensely heavy, and his grip on her weaken. Misty felt his embrace perish and his body sway just slightly, and it made her look up. The look on his face was distant, lost. It was like he was disconnected from the world she was in. He seemed to be making the greatest effort in staying awake, but as his knees gave out, he felt himself loose against unconsciousness.

Misty caught him from falling to the floor, and managed to make him land on the couch nearby. It was before she understood it fully and started to panic. "Gary" She said trying to shake him awake. "Gary!" She started falling into fright. She felt immensely relieved when she checked he was breathing normally but as she tried to wake him up, she felt herself choke up.

He wasn't moving.

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A/N: November 21st fanfiction news made it clear that responding to reviewers within story chapters is not allowed. VV I'm so sad. And I mean it, really really sad, It was really great for me to have a shout out to everyone who dropped by and reviewed, since I'm always grateful of my reviewers, anonymous and signed. I wouldn't get this far without you. Never would! You give me the constant support I need to keep on writing! And you reviews make my days!

Daaarn this rule!

Midnight Mist

Thoughts + Chapters + comments review!