Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon nor do I own any of its characters

I'm sorry for the long update guys, here is chapter 15

Playing Charades

Misty sadly walked through the halls of the local hospital. She was sent to the orientation room to orient her with the hospital rules and policies—she came even though it's not yet time for visiting hours.

Brock is waiting outside the hospital for her.

"How'd it go?"

Misty simply shook her head, a gesture which stated that she disliked the orientation. Well, who wouldn't? She'd rather be chased down by an angry charizard than listen to two whole hours of yells, complaints and nags.

Brock nodded at her silent explanation. No words need to be spoken in order for him to understand what she meant by that.

"Anyway…" he started, trying to break the gloom and doom mood that's filling the hospital "…I have to register for the annual boy toy contest, wouldn't wanna be late for the ladies"

Misty's face shot up to look at the man in disbelief and not because of the fact that there is a real boy toy contest going around

"How could you even enjoy yourself when ash is suffering so badly?!" she practically yelled at him.

Brock was silent for a few minutes. Then, he spoke…

"I feel the same way as you do misty. I feel terrible for what happened to ash but I would feel even terrible if we make the situation worse than it already is"

Misty gave him an angry/perplexed look. "Make the situation worse? What do you mean?"

"If we trouble ourselves worrying about him, I'm sure he'd feel bad on the inside. You know ash as well as I do, he is an altruist, he puts others in front of himself. Have you forgotten about the time he got sick?"

Flashback

"I'm fine guys, don't worry about me" a sickly, incredibly pale ash announced to his friends who refused to leave the hospital room. His face betrayed his claim however as it is pale and his eye bags became deep. His nose was red, his eyes were droopy and he barely ate his food.

"Come on ash, we all know your not" Misty scolded although deep inside, she's hurting like crazy, seeing him like this.

"I'm fine misty. You and Brock just go out there and have fun. I heard this city is famous for its casinos and bars. You guys should check it out and tell me about it later on" he smiled at her but was soon ruined as he coughed violently.

Misty could feel her eyes water. This is partially her fault. A heavy rain caught them on their way here and they just HAD to take a road with no trees around (only asphalt). And she, being partially irresponsible, forgot to bring her umbrella. Well, actually none of them brought an umbrella. So, ash gave her his blue polo to act as her umbrella while he ran wearing nothing but his tight, black shirt that offered so little protection.

"Okay" she said, somewhat hastily as she and Brock left the room. But they didn't leave the hospital.

"Hey ash, the stores were all great though the prices are a bit too much" misty came in with the brightest smile her tired face could come up with. She and Brock didn't sleep well last night. After all, hospital chairs aren't that comfortable. She just lied about the stores so ash would think that they went out exploring.

Ash looked at them suspiciously "I told you guys to have fun. You don't have to worry about me" he frowned at them. He may be dense but he sure knows when a person is lying or not. He could clearly see the bags under their eyes—a clear sign that they slept on the hospital chair in the waiting room.

"W-what are you talking about?" Misty stuttered. She's not the best in the lying department. Brock remained silent because if misty is bad at the lying department, then what would he be? Probably the worst in the universe and that's not exaggerating.

"You're not very good with lies misty, you slept in the waiting room didn't you?" he accused.

There was an eerie silence that fell on the room. The tension in the air so thick that even scyther's slash attack would be insufficient to cut it.

"I'm sorry guys" ash finale muttered as he rested his head back down on the pillow and turned his back on them. "If I hadn't fallen ill, we'd be all out there, enjoying ourselves. I'm really sorry guys"

That was one of the few moments misty felt stomach twist in guilt.

End of Flashback

Misty's brows covered her eyes as she recalled that incident.

"Anyway, it would be best that we 'enjoy' ourselves as much as we can. I know we'll just be playing charades with the world but at least we tried" Brock explained then headed off to sign up for the said contest.

Misty stood outside the hospital for a few more minutes. Then, she took a very hesitant step forward. Then another, and another. Before she knew it, she was already several feet from the building where ash slept. She looked back at it one more time before departing to a place she could play the 'charades' game with the whole town.

'Hmm, which would be better?' misty thought as she looked at the dress on the window. She's been through 9 stores already and all stores only seem to remind her of ash. The restaurant, clothes store, sports store, etc. she tried to keep a happy face but somehow, people seem to notice that her smile is fake.

'If ash was here, which would he prefer to have me wear?' she shook her head. There it is again, ash always seem to crawl inside her mind, she can't enjoy herself even for just a tiny bit!

Frustrated, the girl decided to go to the women's underwear section. Surely, there would be no possibility of thoughts of ash there right? It's not that she wants to forget about him, it's just that whenever she thought of him, she gets so worried because she's reminded of his current condition. And ash hates it when they worry too much for him

Her hypothesis proved to be wrong as she roamed the women's lingerie section. Thoughts of ash still crawled inside her mind. How? Well apparently, a person doesn't easily forget their first near sexual experience and she's reminded of how ash removed her shirt off of her in that tent.

Misty shook her head violently, no choice but to go back to the hospital, it's nearing night time anyway.

You could only imagine how devastated she was when she returned to the hospital only to find out that visiting hours are over.

"Can't I just see him? Even for at least 5 minutes?!" she begged the nurse but the woman only shook her head.

"I'm sorry Miss Waterflower, but rules are rules. You may spend the night in the waiting room. I believe you have a friend waiting for you there"

Misty hesitantly nodded as she obeyed the nurse and headed for the waiting room where Brock is already sleeping on a chair. Togepi and Pikachu were left at the pokemon center for some energetic and wonderful exercises and games, as nurse joy put it.

Apparently, when a pokemon's trainer gets into trouble, the pokemons tend to go berserk until their master awakens. Only with the help of exercises and games does the pokemon relax.

Taking a seat near Brock, misty settled in for the night.

The small rays of sunlight were more than enough to wake her up. With a groggy expression, Misty surveyed her surroundings only to be reminded that she's in the hospital waiting room. Brock is still snoring away—must've played the charades a little too much.

"Good morning Miss Waterflower, how are you today?" the nurse greeted her with a bigger smile than usual.

"I'm fine" she replied, almost like a zombie.

"Aww, are you still in that gloomy mood…" the nurse teased which is really starting to annoy misty "…don't worry, I know what'll cheer you up, a visit to your boyfriend"

Misty blushed at the use of the word boyfriend. Though she treats him like one, they still have to say the magic phrase to seal their bond. "Wait, visiting hours already started?"

The nurse's smile widened "There are some exceptions miss waterflower, come with me"

With that, the girl followed the nurse through the halls of the building. On their way there, she met some nurses smiling at her more than usual. She's already known in the hospital and practically every staff knows her story and why she comes here so often (courtesy of her visiting hour overtime).

They stopped in front of ash's room and the nurse stepped aside to let younger girl open the door.

Misty only gave the staff a confused look. Something tells her that something different would happen today.

With shaky fingers, she opened the door…

To be continued

Please review