A/N: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time out to review this! I do read every single one and appreciate all the effort to write them! They do not go unnoticed, so please continue.

This story oddly has a different method that I've been using with it. Normally I just type up stuff and literally post it right away with a quick look-over. But I have been trying to work on 'show don't tell' because I know as a writer, I can tend to rush my writing and things could be fleshed out a bit more. So I've been hand-writing the chapters first and revising as I type them. Then I go through it a third time later to make any additions/changes. This chapter actually went through a fourth round since I did almost double the size of it in the third round.

Anyway, please enjoy.

Sarah

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

4. Interventions

The weather got a bit hotter as the day progressed. Ash found himself at the hotel pool with only a few hours until he had to meet Misty for their date—well whatever one would call it. It wasn't actually a date—right? It had only been recently that Ash had even gotten his head around the concept of dating. He had been on a few dates with a handful of women before becoming Champion. Nothing stuck, unfortunately. Besides, this was Misty we were talking about. She hardly counted as a girl. She was just Misty. Yet, that in itself wasn't as simple as it seemed.

When they were kids, he had never thought much of her. She was that girl who kept following him around because she wanted him to replace her bike for most of their relationship. Eventually, he began to consider her a good friend, but that time had been cut short by her departure. They had kept contact through phone calls and letters for a period of time after that, but it never felt enough for Ash. He kept longing for her to be with him for some unknown reason. None of his other companions were ever able to hold a candle to her.

"That bartender had such a nice body," Brock commented upon his return, interrupting his thoughts. He handed Ash his drink. It was some fruity cocktail—a bit of alcohol, mixed with a tonof sugar. "If only she hadn't turned me down."

"Is sex all you ever think about?" Ash said, shaking his head. He took a sip of his drink and immediately puckered his lips before swallowing it down with some difficulty.

"Is Pokemon all you ever think about?"

"Touche."

Although Daisy and Misty had gone to meet Mahri in order to return to Trovita, Brock stayed back to hang out with Ash. Since Misty was going to have to come back later that night, Brock thought it would be a good opportunity to pick up some women poolside. His disappointment came when he found out that it was mostly younger trainers staying at the hotel. Ash couldn't help but laugh at his horrified face when he saw a huge crowd around the smaller kiddie pool and only a few senior citizens around the adult pool, by which they were now seated at a table under a giant umbrella. Pikachu was napping on a towel out in the sun a few feet away.

In spite of his shortcomings in the form of hyper-sexuality, it was nice having him around. Though Brock had been someone with which Ash had managed to keep in contact, he still hadn't seen him in a while. They had both been too busy with their blossoming careers to find the time to really see each other. Ash had invited him to watch his championship match, but being in middle of his medical school finals, he hadn't been able to attend.

"Seen any hot girls since I've been gone?"

"Seriously? When's the last time you've gotten laid?"

"It's been too long my friend," Brock sighed. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms above his head. "Too long."

"You know," Ash replied seriously. "If you stopped focusing on girls so much you might be finished with your medical degree by now."

"Seriously Ash?"

"Well look at me," Ash said. "I hardly ever think about girls and look where I am—The Kanto Champion."

"Well now that you're Champion," Brock started as he took a sip of his beer. "Are you going to find a girl?"

Brock had struck a chord with Ash. He hadn't actually been thinking about girls up until a few hours prior. Those previous dates with those other women happened mostly because Ash thought that's what you were supposed to do, not that he actually ever felt anything romantic for them. Damn that redhead. Damn her and her magical spell that was now taking over his body, invading his mind, making him thinking of nothing else but her. Why did she even have to leave him in the first place?

"I don't know. It's not something that I've been thinking about. I've been so focused on Pokemon that I've had no time for anything else," he replied a bit sheepishly.

"Well, I'm sure that there are many gorgeous girls from which to choose."

Ash smiled. "Only after you've had a crack at them first, right?"

"Ah you caught me."

"Speaking of pretty girls," Ash started. Now that they were on the subject of women, it would be a good time to bring up Misty. He hesitated though. What if he got the wrong idea?

"Yeah?" Brock raised an eyebrow.

Ash swallowed. Should he really say? It's not like he actually wanted to date Misty. That would be crazy. He was just having a hard time getting her out of his mind. It begged the question: why was he having these thoughts anyway? She was a friend, nothing more.

"Since when did Misty look—well—like that?"

"What do you mean?" Brock asked, although he had a feeling he knew what Ash was getting at. It was hard not to notice how Misty had grown up, becoming more comfortable in her own skin in the process.

"I mean she used to be such a tomboy when we were kids. Since when did she start looking like a girl?" He hesitated before finishing. "…and a pretty one at that."

Brock stared at him, gob smacked. Was this the moment when Ash finally fell for a woman? It only took over a decade for him to finally start noticing the opposite sex, even with Brock's failed attempts at influencing him. Though, Brock had realized something one day when they were travelling around Kanto—Ash, Misty, and him.

The thought of the two of them together hit him like lightning one day while he watched them having an argument while cooking their dinner. They had been fighting without actually fighting. It was more like they were trying to test each other to see what each one would say. It was then that he knew that there was something there—something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He felt that there had been this other-worldly connection between them. Maybe not when he first met them, but eventually, once the fights had subsided for the most part, they grew close rather quickly. It was as though the universe wanted them to be together. But, being stubborn, the two of them could not see that.

It was frustrating watching two people who could not be more right for each other with other people. He had hoped that Misty might come back to her senses and come home on one of those occasions that Ash had finished a league, and they could have started something. He would have even given Ash the push that he needed. However, the years went by, and that never happened. After Misty called Brock to say that Rudy had proposed, he resigned to the fact that that ship probably sailed away long ago. Yet, here Ash was, showing up right before her wedding with those feelings stirring within him. Maybe it wasn't too late for them after all?

"Did you just say—"

"Yeah, well, I mean—"

He had to tell him. He had a right to know. He knew that Misty would kill him, but Ash needed to know if he was ever going to do anything about it. She may not think this way now, but years from now she would thank him for saving her from the unfortunate fate of Rudy.

"You know that she's getting married on Saturday right?"

Ash choked on his drink. "She what?" he managed to sputter.

"Yeah," Brock replied. "Why do you think Daisy and I are here? Her other two sisters are arriving the day after tomorrow."

"I can't believe it," Ash muttered, his insides suddenly feeling like ice.

"Ash, why do you think she stayed here all of those years ago? Rudy basically told her he wanted her to stay forever. I'm a little surprised that they didn't get married sooner."

Ash made no reply, lost in his conflicting emotions. She was getting married—to Rudy of all people! How could this happen? He knew that he should have been happy for her. She was his friend after all. However, for some unexplainable reason, he couldn't. His words seemed to be stuck in his throat.

"Ash, you okay?"

Ash picked his head up from his drink to see Brock looking at him intently. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he said, finishing off his drink in one gulp. He coughed a few times before continuing. "It just threw me off a little. I mean we're still a bit young for that stuff."

Brock raised an eyebrow. "Didn't your parents get married as soon as they were legally old enough?"

"Well they only had to wait for my mom—hey! This is beside the point!"

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't be so judgmental of Misty, considering that you were a product of a young marriage."

"Okay, you've made your point," he said as he placed the empty glass on the round plastic table in between them.

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Just make sure you don't mention it to her tonight. I'm not sure if Misty would like that I told you."

"Yeah, sure."

Tonight! That's right. He put his head in his hands, groaning. He had almost forgotten. Now what was he going to do about that?

"Misty, what do you think you're doing?"

Daisy was standing behind the cream couch in Misty and Rudy's cottage by the sea. She didn't hear her, blue headphones stuck inside her ears, a chocolate covered ice cream in one hand as the other flipped the page of the novel that was sprawled open across her lap. Daisy put both hands on the back of the couch leaned over her sister, calling once more. After the second time, she sighed and pulled out the right ear bud.

"Daisy, what gives?" Misty snapped.

"What are you doing?"

"Eating."

"No," she said through gritted teeth. "About Ash."

"Oh yeah—that. It's no big deal."

"No big deal?" Daisy exclaimed rounding the couch to give Misty the biggest death glare. "You're getting married on Saturday. And here you are basically going on a date with your childhood crush."

"Relax, Daisy," Misty said, continuing to eat her ice cream. She flipped to the next page. "That was a long time ago. I made my choice back then. It's just dinner with an old friend."

"When Rudy finds out, he—"

"He's not going to find out. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"How are you going to sneak off the island without him noticing?"

She hadn't thought about that fact. How was she going to run off and take his boat for a few hours without him noticing? Sure she could mention going off by herself to him, but he would still ask questions. Not to mention, everyone on the island knew who she was, and even if she managed to sneak away from Rudy, what if someone else saw her and ratted her out? How was she going to pull this off?

"You will cover for me?" Misty asked, hoping that this would be the answer. She stuck a beat-up post-it in between the pages before closing the book and gazed at her sister expectantly.

"Misty—"

"Please, Daisy," Misty replied with pleading eyes. "I would really owe you one."

"Oh fine," Daisy said, throwing her hands up in the air. "But don't say I never—"

"Thanks Daisy!" Misty shouted as she dropped the book on the sofa, sprung up, and sprinted up the stairs. She stopped half-way up, her right hand on the rail to turn her head toward her sister. "I knew I could count on you. Just distract him with wedding details. I'm sure that'll take hours."

Misty stared at herself in the mirror with five minutes left before she had to leave. She looked good but not too good. She didn't want that boy to get the wrong idea—not that she expected to have unholy thoughts about her. She doubted that he had even given her one thought over the past few years once he stopped calling. She sighed. Why was she getting her hopes up? The better question was why had her heart skipped at the thought of him having those kinds of thoughts about her.

Daisy had been good on her word. She had left with Rudy as Misty was getting out of the shower with the proposition of a sister-brother dinner date. She felt a twinge of guilt. Poor Rudy. Her sister was going to drive him mad. The only up-side was that it wasn't the three of them, though Daisy was enough of a handful on her own.

Misty fiddled with her engagement ring. Should she wear it to the dinner? Ash hadn't noticed it in their brief meeting that afternoon, but spending hours together in close quarters might cause him to see it and ask questions. She was still on the fence about telling him that she was getting married. Why was it so hard to tell him? She had no idea what was wrong with her as she stood there fighting with herself, her insides twisting in an unending knot. With a final resolve, she slipped off her engagement ring, placing it back inside the box. Before she could change her mind, she snatched her purse and headed out the door.