Gone swimming

May's POV

I smiled as I peeked out the door. Ash and Misty were hugging each other. I guess that meant that they finally did talk. Good for them. It was about time they got together.

"You know, if you're gonna spy you should make it less obvious."

"Drew," I gasped, turning so quickly that I fell over. He chuckled and offered his hand.

"Are you always that surprised to see me or are you just falling for me?" he teased. I frowned. I was going to take his hand, but now…

"I am not falling for you," I retorted, batting his hand away, "neither am I always surprised to see you. You just scared me, that's all." I stood up and brushed off any dirt that might have been on my clothes.

"Alright then May, whatever you say," he chuckled.

"Are you just here to annoy me?" I asked, "because then you can go."

"No, I came here to ask if you wanted to come to the front of the ship and watch Manaphy," he said, "because he's looking for you."

"He is?" I questioned.

"Yes."

"I haven't been to see him all morning," I gasped, "I've been so focussed on Ash and Misty."

"Well, looks like they don't need your help anymore," Drew said, looking out where I had just been.

"I feel so terrible," I groaned, "How could I have abandoned Manaphy?" Drew turned to me.

"Come on," he whispered, "It's not too late." He gently took my hand and I couldn't help but think how nice and warm it was against my cooler hand. He opened the door to the bow and a blast of cold air hit me. I shivered slightly. Drew dropped my hand. I was disappointed for a moment until I remembered the real reason I was out here. I looked over the rail, searching for the small blue Pokémon among all the other water Pokémon around.

"There he is," Drew told me, pointing, "he's out on that Wailord." I looked to where he was pointing and saw that he was right.

"Manaphy!" I yelled, "I'm over here." Manaphy waved and then the Wailord moved closer to the boat. Manaphy jumped off and into my arms.

'Happy' he called, 'happy, mama' I blinked.

"You called me your mama," I breathed. Manaphy clapped his hands together.

"I'm so happy Manaphy," I exclaimed, rubbing my cheek against his.

'Happy' he repeated.

Drew's POV

I watched May cuddle Manaphy and smiled slightly. She giggled as he snuggled himself more into her arms and kissed his head gently. I blinked as I felt a spike of jealousy. I frowned. I couldn't be jealous of a Pokémon. C'mon Drew, I told myself, that's low. I did wish it was me that May was cuddling and kissing, but no, I was not going to be jealous of a Pokémon. A Pokémon that May saw as her child. That made me feel better, but not completely. Why couldn't she kiss me? Why didn't she wrap me in her arms? Stop Drew, I told myself furiously, it's your own fault. I frowned again, frustrated at the thoughts going through my head.

"Hey Drew," May said, waving her hand in front of my face, "Are you alright? You've been spacing out on me and it's really weird. Why are you frowning anyway?" I snapped out of it.

"Sorry May," I said, "just thinking some thoughts I'd rather not have. What were you saying?"

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, "it can help a lot."

"I'd rather not," I said, blushing slightly, "anyway, what did you say before?"

"Hmm," she mumbled, tapping her chin as she tried to remember, "oh yeah that's right. The ship's stopped and we're all going swimming. I want to know if you want to come."

"Sure," I replied with a shrug, "why not? It's a warm day after all."

"Well ok," she said brightly, "I guess you better go get your stuff and then meet us down there."

"Alright," I said. May walked away and I watched her go for a moment before I followed.

I watched Max as he leaped as high and far as he could into the water, curling up into a ball to make a bigger splash. Buizel followed him. Ash swam out onto the deck.

"C'mon Misty," he begged, "You gotta come in."

"Ash I already told you," she groaned, "I'm not really ready."

"It's been 20 minutes since you last said that!" Ash exclaimed.

"Just go do something else Ash," she mumbled, "I'll come in when I'm ready." Ash nodded, defeated. I really didn't understand why she didn't want to go in yet. Misty loved water and swimming and stuff like that. So why was she so hesitant? Ash came near the ladder next to May. She motioned to the sleeping bundle in her arms and Ash nodded before climbing up. I pulled myself up onto the deck. May didn't look like she was having any fun having to babysit like that. I sat down next to her.

"You don't look like you're having any fun just watching," I whispered.

"I am having fun," she whispered back, "I love looking after Manaphy." I shook my head, trying to get the wet hair from my face. Water droplets landed all over May.

"Stop it Drew," she hissed in a very low whisper, "you're making me all wet."

"That's not wet," I chuckled as she inspected the few tiny drops that had landed on her, "this is wet." I pulled her close and wrapped my arm tightly around her.

"Drew that's cold," she shivered, "let go."

"No." I rested my chin on her shoulder. It wasn't every day I had an excuse to hug her. She sighed and finally relaxed. Misty got up and went near the edge. She sat down and dangled her feet in the water. Ash suddenly jumped off the edge of the top deck, splashing Misty with water. He surfaced with a cheeky grin. He swam near Misty. He then grabbed her hands and pulled her in. Misty surfaced, gasping for air.

"Ash Ketchum!" she shrieked, "I was going to come in by myself!"

"Shh Misty," he hushed, "Manaphy's still asleep."

"Too late," I murmured as I saw Manaphy open his eyes. He wriggled around and May let him out of her arms. He walked to the edge and then jumped into the water. He waved to May and beckoned for her to join him.

"No thanks Manaphy," she said, "it's cold." Manaphy dived under. Ash and Misty followed.

I watched as Manaphy, Ash and Misty played around in the water some more. I found Misty could hold her breath for a really long time. Eventually I got tired of just watching. I was getting hot again and having May lean against me wasn't helping me cool down.

"You wouldn't want to disappoint Manaphy would you?" I questioned suddenly.

"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously, "what are you going to do?"

"This," I chuckled. I let her go and stood up. She sighed in relief until I yanked her up to her feet. She struggled as I started to drag her near the edge.

"Drew! I don't want to go in!" she exclaimed. I chuckled again as I swung her up into my arms.

"Drew," she gasped, "put me down." I shook my head. I ran to the edge and jumped into the water, ignoring the screams that filled my ears. I surfaced. A moment later she came up too, flailing her arms around.

"Drew!" she squealed, "It's so cold!"

"You'll get used to it," I shrugged, "now how about we find Manaphy." I dived under the water. Manaphy spotted me and instantly circled around me happily. Manaphy moved up and soon May followed me. He swam forwards and May clung to him. I swam after them, powering myself forwards with the strong swimming technics I had been taught after I almost drowned on Mirage Island. I came up next to her. She looked at me for a moment before turning back. We swam into a school of Luvdisc. I took a chance and peeked at her. I blinked. She looked so pretty. Her hair was out of its bandana, something that I always like to see, but almost never got the chance. She must've felt my gaze on her because she turned her head towards me and smiled. One of the Luvdisc nudged into me and I was pushed closer to her. Bubbles came from her mouth and she motioned for Manaphy to take her up. I followed after her, surfacing right behind her. She cuddled into Manaphy. Again I felt the need to take May's arm from around him and wrap them around me. I seriously considered doing just that when my arms seemed to move of their own will. I grabbed May's hands and slowly took them from Manaphy. She gasped as Manaphy dived away.

"You need to let Manaphy free to swim by himself," I whispered. I expected a strong retort or her to start getting angry. I didn't expect her to gasp in horror, turn and cling to me.

"Drew!" she squealed.

"What?" I asked, "What are you doing now?"

"Drew, I can't swim," she choked out. I felt guilty.

"Sorry," I apologised, "I didn't know." I put my arms around her as I kicked my feet. Twice I got to hug her. Twice in one day. This was definitely my lucky day, but she did need to learn how to swim.

"Here, I'll teach you," I offered, "then you can swim by yourself."

"Huh? Really?" She questioned.

"Yeah," I confirmed, "I'll teach you one of the easiest ones. You just need to float on your back."

"Drew, I don't want to let go," she cried, "I'll drown."

"I'm right here May," I assured, "I won't let you drown." She slowly peeled her arms away from me. I took one of her hands in my own.

"That's right," I encouraged, "Now slowly let yourself float." She flailed around, trying to keep herself afloat. I shook my head.

"No May, like this," I said. I stopped her. I gently pushed her back up and got her to float.

"See you're floating," I said, "now just hold still."

"Ok," she replied, her voice shaking, "you won't leave me will you?"

"Course not," I promised, "Now what you need to do is kick your feet." She started to do as she was told. I kicked my feet to keep up with her.

"That's right," I encouraged, "now that last thing you need to do is let go of me and spin your hands back around in a circle."

"I don't wanna let go," she said, her grip tightening.

"Trust me May," I begged, "You have to let go." Her breath shook as she slowly released my hands. Her arms whirled around really fast at first before they settled into a steady rhythm.

"There you go," I said "you're doing it by yourself." I rolled onto my back and kicked my feet to swim next to her.

"I'm doing it Drew!" she exclaimed, "I'm swimming!"

"Yes," I agreed, "see it isn't that hard." She nudged gently against me and then stopped. She then screamed and started flailing around again. I stopped and swam back to her.

"It's ok May," I hushed pulling her hands to me, "it was just me you bumped into."

"Oh. I'm sorry Drew," she said, bowing her head.

"It's alright," I assured her, "try again. We're almost back to the ship." She stuck out her tongue as she concentrated on floating again.

"Drew?" She questioned when she was floating on our back, "can we just kick our feet? I don't want to let go this time." Her voice was shaky and I just had to give in.

"Alright," I sighed, "but that'll take longer and the sun is starting to sink."

"That's ok," she whispered, "I just don't want to let go this time." She tightened her grip on my hand as if to prove the point.

We finally got back to the deck. I got out of the water and held my hand down to May. She took it and I pulled her up next to me. I grabbed a towel and threw it over her head.

"Go get dressed May," I said, seeing her shiver, "you look cold." It was true. She did look cold, but what else could I expect? All she was wearing was a blood red bikini. She nodded and started up the ladder. She slipped and I caught her gently.

"Try drying your fingers first," I chuckled. I gently rubbed the towel across her fingers before letting her go again.

"Thanks Drew," she said. She climbed up and I followed after her. We went into our separate rooms and I jumped into the shower. After washing off the salty water I came back out and got dressed. I rubbed the towel over my hair one last time and then hung it over the rack. I shook out my head and opened the door. May came back towards me looking dejected.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"We were late for dinner," she replied, "Ash ate our food."

"I guess he's paying you back," I chuckled. She glared at me.

"I'm sorry May," I said, "I have a muesli bar you can have if that makes it any better." She nodded quickly and I handed it to her.

"C'mon," I said, "we should head to bed now. Wouldn't want to oversleep and miss breakfast."

"I was going to sleep outside in the hammock," she admitted, "I can be close to Manaphy then."

"Ok, I'll come with, just to make sure Manaphy's ok." She nodded. Thank goodness she believed all my really lame excuses. I followed her as she climbed down the ladder again. She settled down in the hammock. Manaphy jumped onto the deck. I spotted him and picked him up.

"Here he is," I said as I placed him on the hammock with May. May smiled as she cuddled with him. I fetched a blanket and tucked it over them.

"I love you Manaphy," She said. I frowned slightly, wanting her to say those three words to me.

"Can you say I love you?" she asked him.

'Mana?' he asked, looking confused.

"Love you," I tried, joining in.

'Mana love loo' he said.

"Love you," May said again.

'Love you,' he repeated, drawing out the 'o' in love.

"Right love you!" May exclaimed happily. She hugged him happily. I was about to leave when Manaphy wrapped an antenna around my wrist.

'Mana love you,' he said, pulling me down. I stumbled forwards and only just managed to stop myself from falling over. He tugged again. Oh no. Manaphy intended for us to sleep together like a family. I bit my lip.

"Not now Manaphy," I said gently. He tugged on my wrist harder.

"Please, just make him happy," May said, "I don't mind." She moved over. I sighed and slipped in next to her.

"Thank May," I said quietly as Manaphy snuggled down between us.

"It's ok," May whispered sleepily, "I don't know why, but Manaphy seems attached to you."

"Yeah…" I trailed off. May closed her eyes and yawned one more time before she joined Manaphy off in dream land.

A/N: And that concludes my eighth chapter. This one is a little longer than the rest I think. That whole learning to swim thing was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I hope it doesn't seem too out of place. Drew is already softening. Aww!