I love this holiday we call WINTER BREAK. I can breathe again, you guys. And tonight, my muse decided to drop in, but she left halfway through. Let's hope she left us something good!

Disclaimer: I own Joseph. Who's Joseph? My cat. Just kidding. I don't even have a cat.

48. Welcome:
In every city, Sapphire is welcomed as a renowned Dex Holder, but she's never received a warmer welcome than her boyfriend lounging by the mouth to the secret hideout, grinning as he holds his arms out to her.

Sapphire grimaced at her traveling seatmate. "Do we have to?" she whined, petulance finding a way to creep into her tone. "I'm really tired, and I mean, they-"

"Oh, Sapphire, do be patient," Emerald cut in from beside her. "You defeated the Champion-" and Sapphire chose not to hear the muttered "again", instead focusing in on the rest of his sentence- "and it's only fitting that you return to each town for each Gym Leader to celebrate your achievements."

"Emerald's right," Steven put in, leaning over to smile reassuringly at the scowling Hoenn trainer. "You know, Sapphire, you didn't really have to come back to defeat Joseph. I mean, let him have his reign. What was it this time, a month?"

"That title is rightfully mine," Sapphire pointed out defensively.

"True, but you're not exactly staying at your post to defeat trainers."

Sapphire opened her mouth before realizing that she didn't have a solid argument ready. "Neither did Wallace, or you," she said lamely.

"Oh, we all know why Wallace never stayed at his post-" and here Steven's eyes twinkled mischievously- "and when I had the reign, Team Rocket was causing chaos. It's not exactly my fault."

Sapphire sighed. "The Elite Four does a good job of defeating trainers before they ever get to me. And Green did a good job of ensuring that my Pokemon can fight without my command."

"Not that you let them do it, of course- ow!" And Emerald yelped as Sapphire punched him at his muttered thought. "What? All I'm saying is that you wouldn't dream of letting your Pokemon fight without you by their side!"

Sapphire narrowed her blue eyes at him, and the shorter boy subsided into grumbling dissent while Steven merely smiled in amusement. "All I'm saying, Sapphire," he advised gently, "is that this is part of our Gym Leader tradition. It's a cross you have to bear every time you return to the top ranked position of our land." His eyes sparkled with teasing good humor. "Maybe next time you shouldn't lose, hmm?"

"That-" Sapphire spluttered, "-that was because I was distracted! Plus he cheated, I'm sure of it."

"Of course," Emerald muttered, rolling his eyes and when Sapphire made a move towards him he squeaked and shot across to Steven's bench, where it was presumably safer.

Steven was desperately trying not to laugh, but being the gentleman that he was, he suppressed it. "Of course, Sapphire," he echoed Emerald sans the sarcastic tone. "Let's ignore the fact that it's perfectly legal to bring in several Potions and Revives."

Sapphire sank back in her seat and sighed. "I was distracted," she insisted to no one in particular as she glanced outside the window, where the train tracks were whipping by. Emerald opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when Steven shot him a warning glance and shook his head.

Both Emerald and Steven knew that there were only two reasons why Sapphire was so loathe to wasting more time on formalities- one was because it was in her nature to attempt to stay out of traditional ceremonies; two, it meant further time away from a certain white-capped boy back home.

…

"I swear, Wattson and Flannery go out of their way to make it even more painful for me," Sapphire complained later as she returned Pilo to its Pokeball. "I can handle things like standing in front of Dewford and waving, because Brawly hates these festivals as much as I do and they don't last long- but full ceremonial dress? Really, Norman?"

The Petalburg Gym Leader Norman snorted. "Well, aren't you glad Petalburg doesn't do that for you?"

"Very glad. Thank you, by the way, for agreeing to skip everything. I'm not quite sure I could stand another one…"

"Those girly things? Ah, no problem." Norman waved his hand at the Hoenn Champion as he locked up his Gym. "I hated them anyway. Besides, I'm sure the whole of Petalburg already knows you, thanks to that thing on your finger…"

Sapphire looked down at her right hand, where the band of gold glistened on her finger. "Oh, I s'pose I forgot to take it off," she said with some degree of distaste.

Norman looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You don't like it?" he wanted to know.

Sapphire realized what she said, and so she hastily backtracked. "I love it, I really do! I just don't really want it to get dirty, and well…" She blushed, something Sapphire Birch so rarely did. "That was the whole reason why I got distracted last time."

"Ahhh-hhhhhh." And Norman drew out the understanding note. "I get it." He abruptly clapped his hands together. "Well, I'm going to go home. Thank you for stopping by, Sapphire, but as you can tell, Ruby isn't here."

"Wha-I-I-I-" Sapphire stuttered. "I wasn't here for Ruby, I came here to say hello-"

"Mmhmm." And Norman shook his head as he walked away. Blushing, Sapphire dimly heard him mutter, "Silly kids. Thinking they could fool me…"

From inside its Pokeball, Toro crooned knowingly and nudged Sapphire. The blue-eyed trainer took the Pokeball out and held it at eye level, fixing it with a glare. "Hush," she told Toro. "That isn't why I'm here."

Yeah, sure. And Toro rolled its eyes.

Just then, something caught Sapphire's attention. She turned her head to find Ruby's Castform floating by the trees, wildly gesticulating the way only Popo could. "Hey there," Sapphire called cheerily as she jogged towards it, "Have you seen-"

Popo darted into the trees, and Sapphire stopped short. "Hey!" she yelled.

The Pokemon poked its head out of the trees, chirped, and darted back into the grove of trees. Sapphire blinked before Toro literally slammed her in the waist. "What?" Sapphire demanded impatiently, taking her favorite Pokemon out again. Toro began pointing wildly in the direction Popo had gone, and Sapphire took a few tentative steps forward.

"Oh." And Sapphire felt the full meaning of Popo's behavior crash down on her head. "Popo wants me to follow, innit?"

Toro nodded, and Sapphire was struck by some sudden panic. "Oh, Arceus- maybe Ruby's hurt-" and she began sprinting after her fiancee's Pokemon. It was difficult- night was falling, and the sun cast a dim light across the sky, blue engulfing red, red engulfing orange- shadows danced across the forest floor, but like the native jungle girl she was, Sapphire navigated with the utmost ease.

It wasn't long before she realized that she had arrived at the hideout that they had shared for so many years- at least ten. It was quiet and deserted, Popo was nowhere to be found, and there was no sign of Ruby either. Sapphire took a hesitant step forward, her hand resting on Toro's Pokeball- "Ruby?" she called tentatively. "Ruby, where are you?"

No sound. Sapphire took another step forward towards the mouth of the cave. "Ruby?" she called again. No answer.

Almost apprehensively, she poked her head into the cave, where a startling sight met her eyes. The usual oil lamps that Ruby had brought back were all lit, providing the cave with a bright glow that suffused the cave with warmth; along with that, there were what looked like blankets and throw pillows strewn across the floor and- what was that? Sapphire crossed the floor of the cave and scooped up the bouquet of lilies that lay on the ground, smiling as she inhaled the fresh scent of her favorite flowers.

"You might want to turn around," a deep voice said from behind her, and Sapphire did so, grinning already at the sight of Ruby leaning against the wall. He smiled back and held out his arms, and Sapphire entered gratefully, inhaling his familiar smell of soap and that faint smell of cologne. "I've missed you," Ruby told her cheerfully.

"So have I." Sapphire abruptly pulled away. "What have you done to this cave?" she wanted to know. "It's all… girly!"

"And here I thought that since you turned twenty-one, you would have at least picked up some girly traits," Ruby said with mock surprise.

Sapphire frowned. "What's the date today?" she wanted to know.

"September 21. Why?" Ruby's eyes widened as he put two and two together. "You forgot your own birthday again, didn't you."

"I was kind of battling for my title," Sapphire defended herself.

Ruby looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You'd think that you would remember your birthday since you retained your Champion title the day you turned twenty-one!"

"Well, clearly I didn't think it was that important. Birthdays are unimportant anyway!"

"You didn't know why Wattson and Flannery made you wear ceremonial costumes?"

"I thought they were trying to make my life miserable!"

"Well, now that I think about it, they were probably going to try and do that, too…"

Sapphire's eyes suddenly narrowed. "How did you know that Wattson and Flannery made me dress up in their town's ceremonial robes? I didn't tell you, and I made sure there were no videos or photos."

Ruby almost flinched. "Uh…" he covered feebly.

Sapphire's eyes narrowed even further and Ruby took a step back. "Let's not jump to conclusions," he stuttered. "Maybe Emerald told me?"

"Emerald was off in Dewford surfing with Brawly when I was with Wattson and later Flannery." Sapphire crossed her arms, a sure sign that Ruby was busted. "Did you tell them to put me in robes as tight as an Arbok's grip?"

"No, dear, of course not."

"You did!"

"Did it really hurt that much?"

"DO YOU WANT TO FIND OUT?"

"No, I don't- OW! Sapphire-!"

From outside, Popo and Zuzu watched the chaos unfold. Ten years, really? Popo commented.

Yeah. Zuzu covered its eyes as Ruby fled the scene, laughing and choking and yelping all at the same time. I wonder how Ruby's going to handle this when they're actually married.

Popo was silent for a time. Do you think Norman will give us some of that popcorn? it asked.

Maybe. Why?

Popo shrugged. It would be a fun show to watch.