Moments Alone, Chapter 9: "What Cath Dragged In"

By Ellie, 2007

The Next Morning

Misty woke up to a cool breeze tickling the back of her neck. She opened her eyes slowly, and simultaneously realized two things: she'd left her window open last night, and today was supposed to be the day she saw Ash again. Upon realizing the second thing, she clamped her eyes shut as tight as she could manage and breathed deeply. Perhaps if she could induce sleep again, she'd be able to put it off another hour or two. But as she expected, sleep wouldn't come. What little sunlight that had been making its way into her room was vanishing fast, and with it an army of thick, black rain clouds rolled their way in. She got up to shut the window, and stared at the sky.

"Hope that's not an omen," she said to herself.

Before she could make it back to the bed, a knock jolted her back to reality. "Yeah?" she called.

"Can I come in?" It was Silvia.

"Sure," she said, plopping back down on the warm bed. Her wooden door opened to reveal her friend, dressed and ready for her day. Misty furrowed her brow and looked at the clock. It was only 7:30 am. "Why are you dressed?"

"Uh, the girls and I thought we'd do some shopping or something this morning," she said, though her tone of voice made Misty suspicious. Silvia sat down on the bed across from her.

"Seriously? But it's League Challenge week. Shouldn't we be sleeping in and resting in our spare time?"

Silvia nodded, then shrugged.

"You're just trying to empty the house so you're not here when Ash comes."

Silvia took in a deep breath. "You caught me," She gave Misty a broad smile. Misty's cold expression was unfazed. "We just thought it would be better if we weren't here."

Misty sighed. "Well, you're not making this any easier for me."

"I know, Myst, but you knew this wasn't going to be easy from the day we realized where Ash was headed. And our being here really isn't a good idea. This is something the two of you are going to have to settle on your own, without the help of any of us."

Misty nodded, and pulled her knees to her chest. "You're right, as always, Silvia."

"Someone has to be," she said with a smile. Misty looked at her and laughed.

"Won't you girls at least stay for coffee and breakfast?"

"Of course, sweetie. I've got cinnamon rolls in the oven and the coffee should be ready right about now. Get your slippers on and get your butt downstairs!" Silvia stood up and gave Misty a tap on the knee.

Misty smiled. "I'll be right down," she said, standing up.

Silvia left the room and shut the door behind her. Misty took a deep breath, and took one last look out the window. Rain was definitely on its way. She pulled her hair up, stepped into her slippers, and went downstairs. The breakfast was nice, the girls allowed her to think of other things, as they gushed about their upcoming matches and what they hoped to find on their shopping trip. The rolls were delicious, as they always were, and the friendship was comforting. Misty had almost forgotten about what was coming by the time they picked up their purses and got ready to leave. But as soon as the door shut behind them, the nervous feeling crept right back into her stomach.

It was nearly ten before the doorbell sounded. Just moments before, the rain had started, and she could tell that the ground was already soaked. Misty, who had now showered and dressed in jean shorts and a light pink sweater (she always felt cold in the air conditioning), was frozen when she first heard it. She set the coffee cup that she'd been nursing down on the table, and slowly got up. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the door. It took all her might to turn the knob and pull it open. Allowing one final breath, she flung it open, face of surprise practiced and ready.

"Morning!"

To Misty's dismay, it was Cath at the door, huddling under a yellow and pink striped umbrella.

"Oh, Cath! Hi!" Misty said, hoping to make up for the look of disappointment she'd involuntarily made at seeing Cath. She took a step back and let her wet friend in, offering to take her coat with her open arm.

"Expecting someone else?" Cath asked as she disrobed.

"Not at all," Misty lied. "What can I do for you?"

"I can't find my cell, I thought I must have left it here."

"Oh, you might have! I haven't seen it though," Misty said, hanging up the umbrella and raincoat. "But look all you want. Do you want some coffee? It's from this morning, but it's still warm. I'm still drinking it."

"Sure, sounds nice," Cath said as she headed into the living room to search for her phone.

Misty prepared a cup for Cath, while silently cursing herself for getting so excited when she'd answered the door. He was going to come or he wasn't, and there was no use in her getting all worked up about it. "How do you take it?" Misty yelled to her friend.

"Black's fine," Cath yelled back. "Up, I found it!"

"That was fast," Misty said to herself. She set Cath's cup down on the kitchen table and began to wash the now empty coffee carafe. It took some scrubbing, but she got it clean pretty quickly. As she put the now crystal clear carafe away, she looked down at Cath's still untouched cup. "Cath, what are you doing? It's getting cold." Tossing the kitchen towel aside, she picked up the cup and marched out into the living room to find her friend. Passing the coat rack, she noticed the pink and yellow umbrella was gone, as well as Cath's raincoat. "Cath?" she called, confused. She walked into the living room, and her heart stopped so fast she almost dropped the cup.

"Misty," he said, turning around. He was taller than she expected, a good four inches or so taller than her. He had the body of a man now, not the scrawny boy she once knew. He was muscular, though not too much so, and his face was distinguished. On television, she'd seen recent photos of him, but the real thing, in person, was an entirely different can of worms.

"Ash," she breathed, barely making out the word. They stood, frozen in time, considering one another, and all Misty could wonder was what on earth he was thinking. And how on earth he could be standing in her living room, and how amazingly handsome he'd become. Her cheeks began to flush as she noticed how soaked he was. "You're soaked."

He looked at himself. "Yeah, I am."

"Here," she said, walking towards him with the still-hot cup of coffee. She passed it to him, their fingers touching slightly, delicately, electrically, as she did. She looked at him as he took the cup from her. "Where's Cath?"

"She let me in and left," he explained, taking a step back. She mirrored his action. He sipped the coffee. "Said she found her phone and that she thought she should leave."

"Huh," Misty said, picking up her own cup of coffee. "Nice of her to say goodbye," she said with a sarcastic, but not all together committal smile. Ash just kept staring at her. "Uh," Misty struggled, not knowing what to say to him, but knowing full well that something had to be said, immediately. The silence was unbearably awkward for her. "Why don't we find you something dry to wear? I can put those clothes into the dryer for you."

"Sounds great," he said, setting his cup down, "Lead the way."

She smiled and gave a nod, then led him up the stairs, wondering absentmindedly as she climbed them ahead of him if he was looking at her butt. At the top of the stairs, she pulled a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt out of the hall closet and pointed to the stacks of clothing. "This is our closet full of Mahogany Four merchandise. They send us loads every time they come out with a new design, and we never wear them. Especially when they're this big. Hopefully they'll fit you." She pointed down the hall and said, "That's the bathroom."

"Thanks, this will be perfect," he said with a smile.

"I'll be downstairs in the living room, just bring your wet clothes down with you." She offered the best smile she could muster at the moment, but her nervousness was making it all very difficult for her.

"Great. I'll be down in a sec."

She nodded, and headed downstairs. She looked at the hall clock. It was only 10:05. She thought for a moment that those five minutes had been some of the longest in her life. By 10:07, she was staring at Ash once again, now donning a big "Mahogany Four" logo across his chest.

"Here they are, soaked to the core," he said motioning to the load of wet clothes in his arms. "Where's the dryer?"

"Oh, I'll take them," she said, almost leaping off the couch. She took the load from his arms, and walked down the hall. "Take a seat," she called back to him.

Misty placed each article of clothing into the dryer (though not before reading each tag meticulously, she'd hate to ruin something). Before tossing in his jeans, she, by force of habit, checked to make sure there was nothing in the pockets. Just as she realized this might not be the right thing to do, she felt a bit of paper. She recognized it immediately to be the note she'd left him the night before. It was barely damp. Satisfied there was nothing left in the pockets, she started the dryer and went back to the living room.

"Found this," she said, passing him the note. She sat on the couch, across from the chair he'd taken claim of.

"Been rooting through my pockets, have you?"

She blushed. "Only by force of habit. My sisters used to leave candy in their pockets that would melt in the dryer, then get all over the clean clothes. It drove me crazy."

"I imagine it would."

"Is your coffee still hot?"

"It's fine, thanks."

"Hungry?"

"No."

"We've got some leftover cookies from last night…"

"Misty." He looked at her seriously, his gaze steady.

"Right, we need to talk," she said, her voice much weaker than she'd realized.

A little smile grew across his features. "You're so nervous," he said, setting his cup on the coffee table between them.

"I'm not nervous," she was pleased to hear her voice strong and clear again, and she straightened her posture.

"You are, I can tell," he said, his smile widening.

Misty frowned. "Did you come over here to fight with me?"

"No, no, I'm sorry," he said, "I guess some things never change. I'm perpetually a prat." Misty smiled at this. "Oh, good, I made you smile," he finished, getting up from his chair. He paced a little bit about the room. Misty wasn't sure what to make of him.

"I thought you wanted to talk," she said, "here I am, let's talk."

"Hey, you were the one who asked me here. Why don't you start?"

"There you go again," she said, smirking while rising to a standing position, hands on her hips in her signature position.

"God I've missed you," his voice was so unexpectedly breathy and full of emotion that the three or four steps he took towards her following his announcement seemed natural. He pulled her into an embrace, one she reciprocated fully.

"I've missed you too," she admitted, "so why have we been so infantile that we can't even manage to call each other every once and a while?"

He pulled back from the hug, still holding his arms around her tiny waist, and looked at her as if he were taking her in. "We lost each other, Misty. We screwed it all up royally. Rather, I screwed it all up royally. It was my fault, and I don't think I can ever really apologize to you enough for that mistake."

"Ash, it wasn't your fault, don't think that," the sort of lover-like embrace he'd been holding her in made her uncomfortable again. She sat down on the couch. He sat down next to her. "We were equally at fault. I was awful to you at times. So I'm sorry too."

"Don't be," he was looking at her with those brown eyes again, and Misty couldn't help but feel attracted to him.

"How about neither of us take the blame," she suggested. "We were just children after all."

He smiled. "Okay."

Any awkwardness Misty felt soon melted as Ash began to question her about the years they'd spent apart. He wanted to know everything, and let her know how impressed he was with her progress. She interviewed him similarly, hearing all about his journeys with Brock and the others, and before they knew it, they were all out of coffee.

"More coffee? Or tea?" she asked, eyeing his empty cup.

"Sure, I'll help you make it," he offered, standing up. He followed her into the kitchen.

"So what'll it be? Tea or coffee?" Misty rooted through the cabinets as Ash rinsed out their mugs. "Or… yup, I've got cocoa too."

"Oh, that'll be the one," he said, shutting off the faucet. "I'm never one to turn down a mug of cocoa."

Misty considered him as she prepared the cocoa. She was happy to see him, and talking with him had been wonderful. And she was proud of him. He'd come so far from that brat of a child she left six years ago. He was smart, funny, and quick-witted. And handsome. A lot can happen in six years, she thought. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing, too.

"Misty, I have to be honest with you," he said, breaking her train of thought.

She looked at him curiously and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Letting you go was probably the worst mistake of my life," he started, but she cut him off.

"Oh, I don't know, you turned out all right."

"That's not what I mean," he said, venturing another step closer to her as she stirred the warming milk over the stove. She didn't look up. "It was awful after you left. Brock was so angry with me for letting you go… we were worried sick. We wondered if you'd be okay on your own, how you would get home. Those things hadn't registered for me when I was yelling at you, but not long after you left, they hit me like a train."

Misty was beginning to get angry. Could he really be asking for her sympathy, after all this time? What about her? Hadn't she been the one who had been left alone? To fend herself against a forest of wild Pokemon, then to manage a way home safely? Hadn't it been she who was yelled at for hours by her family upon returning home for doing something so risky? Who was he to be bringing this on her now? She dropped the wooden spoon onto the stovetop and turned to look at him.

"Sorry to hear that, Ash," her voice was poisonous, and the glare she gave him icy. "Sorry you and Brock had to suffer along with out me! Poor Ash Ketchum, left all on his lonesome with only one traveling partner."

The color drained from Ash's face as he realized what he'd said. "I didn't mean it like that," he said softly, taking her hand in his. She ripped it away violently, and walked away from him towards the kitchen window.

"You know, I was just thinking how much you've changed, how proud I am of you... I was completely off the mark, wasn't I? You haven't changed at all! You're still just that selfish brat, that child, that I traveled with six years ago. So is that why you came here, Ash? To make me feel sorry for you? To make me feel sorry that I left you that day? Sorry to disappoint you, Ash, but I'm realizing now that it was probably the best decision I ever made in my life!" She turned her back to him and stared out the window as her eyes began to sting, and tears slipped down her cheeks. "Dammit," she breathed to herself.

She heard him move closer to her.

"Misty," he started in a whisper.

"Oh, save it," she snapped.

"Misty, come on," his voice a bit stronger.

"No!" she yelled as she turned around. "I will not come on. Get out." Her voice was cold.

"Misty, please, let me explain what I meant…"

"Get OUT!"

"NO!" he matched her forceful tone. "You've got it all wrong. That's not the reason I came here at all. In fact, that never once crossed my mind! You didn't let me finish."

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms against her chest. "I'll let you explain, but you'd better get to the point fast."

"Misty, what I was trying to say was that after you were gone, it didn't take me long to realize that the reason I felt what I was feeling was… because I'd fallen in love with you. I was too young to realize what love was and what it really meant, but I knew that you were special to me in a way that no other person had ever been. You were all I could think about for months, I was consumed with loss, and was sure I'd never see you again."

Misty's arms slid down to her side, and she inhaled deeply. She let him continue.

"So I channeled my energy and passion into training, and decided then that I would never let anything stop me from becoming the person I'd always dreamed of being. Later on, as I grew older, I realized how serious the mistake I'd made had been, when I began to understand love and relationships. I saw Brock fall in love in front of my eyes, and when he and I talked about it, I knew that it was the same feelings I'd experienced toward you. Recently I realized that if I stayed on the track I was pursuing, I'd never become the person I really wanted to be… because the person I really want to be is the man you're in love with. I was planning to go straight to Cerulean City after the Mahogany League."

Misty's tears had become uncontrollable, and any anger she'd experienced had completely left her. Without a word, she pulled him into a passionate kiss, holding onto him as if it was for her life. He responded fiercely to her kiss, stroking her hair, her arms, her back, taking over her body with the feel of his touch and the smell of his skin. She felt intoxicated, flooding with emotion and years of pent-up sexual frustration. And just as Misty began to think about how she never wanted the moment to end, he pulled away from her. She looked up at him in question.

"The milk's burning."

To be continued in Chapter 10! Hope you enjoyed this after all those years. I wanted to make it worth the wait! 