A/N: Here's the next chapter for you all, and I'm wicked excited for you all to read this one. I hope that you'll like it. I want to also say thank you again to all of you who have written a review. I do read all of them. I know some of you are getting a little impatient. I promise I'm not trying to drag anything out. When I write any kind of story, whether it is my original novel or a fanfic, I usually make a rough outline of the most important events happening in the story and which specific chapters they happen in. Then as I go through and plan each chapter before I write it, I flesh it out a little more. Sometimes I add stuff that I did not expect to do. This chapter in particular is one that I've strictly followed my original outline to a tea-meaning nothing that I threw in there last minute. I thought that it would be helpful (Maybe it isn't. I don't know) to know about my writing process in this case.

Anyway, go ahead and read and enjoy. I'll see you for the next chapter. We're only one chapter away from the final part! (I can't believe how long this has gotten. Right now, the story is 219 pages on word.)

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

Chapter Four: The Unexpected

It had taken a couple of days for Ash to recover from his hangover this time. The next morning, he could barely move at all. It was in that moment that Ash swore off all alcohol. It was a promise to himself that he was sure to break. Pikachu did his best to help his buddy, but he did disappear at times to find Misty's Clefairy.

Ash had a few visitors during this time. First there was Brock to remind him of their conversation in the bar. Ash had been a little hazy on the details, but Brock promptly filled in the holes. Ash had face more frightening ordeals in the past, so he should have had no problem with this. He knew that he had to be brave. He needed to tell her.

He had blown his first opportunity, however. Misty, who had heard from Brock about Ash's condition, came to check on him later that day. She had brought him some food that she thought would help. It was some local take-out. Normally, Ash would have been thrilled, but the smell of it had him running to the bathroom. He had never vomited so much in his life. Where did it all come from?

So, Misty took care of him the best way she knew how. She gave him some water and aspirin and swiftly put him to bed. Once he was all tucked inside the sheets, she went to leave. As she headed out the door, he muttered "love you" in an inaudible whisper, causing her to pause.

"Did you say something?" she asked, coming back to the bed.

"No," he lied. "Thanks, Mist."

Thus, the day before the wedding came, and Ash had yet to tell her. That morning, he made a special point to do it. He was awake before the sun rose, knocking on the door to her suite. A half-asleep Misty answered, dressed in a tank top and shorts. She was taken aback by his suggestion to watch the sunrise together. She threw her hair up in a messy bun as he waited for her on the terrace. The two of them chatted as the sun rose above the horizon. The orange light cascaded onto Misty, giving her a warm glow. They talked, mostly about the wedding. Misty was happy for it to be almost over, but grew quiet when Ash asked what she was going to do after tomorrow.

They stayed there for a couple of hours, when they knew that the restaurant downstairs would be open. They had a breakfast buffet. It was on the expensive side, but it was worth it. Besides, they could charge it to their accounts, which were being taken care of by Daisy. Misty let Clefairy out of its Pokeball, and Ash swung by his room to get Pikachu. The two of them and their Pokémon headed downstairs.

The restaurant was beyond the lobby, adjacent to the pool area. When Ash and Misty started going through the lobby, they paused, noticing the massive crowd of new guests checking into the hotel. They noticed a few acquaintances from Kanto that were sure to be here for the wedding, but everyone else was a stranger. The restaurant, as far as they could tell from where they stood, was also busy, with a line to get inside. Ash had been planning to tell her over breakfast, where it would be quiet and maybe a little romantic. He was trying to set a mood, and all these people were ruining it.

"There sure are a lot of people," Misty commented.

"Yeah," Ash agreed.

"It must be that they heard that the great Misty Waterflower was staying here," she gushed.

Ash snorted. "Don't count on it."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Anyway," she said, glowering at him. "What's gotten into you this morning? You're usually not awake this early."

"Well," he said. This time was as good as any. It would be this crowded in the restaurant, anyway. "There was something that I needed to tell you."

"Yeah?" She titled her head a little to the side. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He inhaled sharply.

"Mist, I l—"

"Ash?"

He stopped cold at the sound of her voice. There was no mistaking it. Her voice, which used to be rich and velvety to him, pierced through him like the knife that she used to cut out his heart. Why was she here? He silently cursed at the universe because it obviously had a huge contempt for him. He pivoted around, and there she was, causing Ash to wish she were a hallucination.

Serena was the same as the day they broke up. Simultaneously, she was different. Her hair was cut much shorter. She was wearing what he assumed to be the latest fashion trend—a strapless red dress and a black leather jacket with matching boots. There was an arm, belonging to another man, draped around her shoulder. He smirked at them, his blond bangs partially concealing his face. It didn't matter though for Ash. He knew it was Mark, the man for whom Serena had left him.

"Serena," Ash said coolly.

"How are you?" she asked. Ash wanted to make a snide remark, but instead responded with a simple "fine." Misty stood awkwardly, unsure if she should introduce herself, sensing the tension between the two.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in an attempt at civil conversation.

"Oh well. There's a New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. I'm performing at it. All of those people—" She paused to gesture at all the guests checking in. "—are here for it."

"Oh." This conversation was getting more painful by the second.

"You should come," she said. "We could catch up. It'll be fun."

Ash cleared his throat. "I can't. I'm busy tomorrow night."

"I'm sure you could make time to come. You could bring your girlfriend here," she said, pointing at Misty.

Misty waved her hands. "Oh I'm not—"

"She's not my girlfriend," Ash said. No, she wasn't, but he wanted her to be, and Serena was ruining it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, though Ash did not trust that she was being sincere. "I just thought—"

"Well you thought wrong," he snapped back. He grabbed Misty by the hand and yanked her away from Serena and Mark. He couldn't stay making idle chitchat anymore. The longer he stood there, the greater the desire to punch Mark in the face grew.

Once they had put a considerable distance between the others, Misty stopped, causing Ash to as well. The two locked eyes. He saw the confusion and concern in hers. He had to tell her some explanation. This had been plaguing him for months. He shouldn't have given up after the first and sole attempt had failed. There was nothing to be done about this now.

"Sorry about that," Ash said.

"Who was that?"

"A girl I know. I don't want to talk about her," he said, pausing for a moment. He handed Pikachu to Misty. "I'll see you later tonight. Look after Pikachu would you."

"What about breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry anymore," he replied.

Misty watched him storm away, feeling puzzled. He seemed nervous at times that morning, but cheerful nonetheless. However, his mood had shifted so rapidly that it did not make sense. It had all been because of that girl, Misty concluded. Who was she? Perhaps, she was a rival of his or something. Whoever she was, he did not seem happy to see her. Clearly, it had upset him, and that bothered her right down to her core.

"What's up with him, Pikachu?"

"Pikapi ka pi pikachu pika pikachupi."

"You know, I wish I could understand you."

"Cha!"

Misty stood in front of the doors to the ballroom, fidgeting. Ash was nowhere to be seen. He had already missed the run-through of the ceremony. Tracey had mentioned that Ash said that he wasn't feeling well, and since all he did was stand there, Tracey had excused him from it. It was now time for the rehearsal dinner, but he remained missing. Everyone was inside, but here she was waiting for him in her aqua tea-length dress, Pikachu in her arms. She was about to turn to go through the double doors when she saw him coming off the elevator down the hall.

He was wearing dress pants and a dress shirt, his tie a bit disheveled. Misty brightened up at the sight of him. He attempted to reciprocate her smile, but it came out slightly forced. Once they were inches from each other, he muttered a short greeting. Usually, she would have chastised him for making her wait, but seeing that his mood had not changed since she had last seen him, she said nothing as she placed Pikachu on the carpet.

Her hands swiftly moved up to his tie, fixing it before they went to join everyone else. He caught a whiff of her perfume. The aroma of vanilla and lavender drew him in a little closer to her. Sensing his presence, she tipped her head up to discover his face right in front of hers. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding. The two remained in intense suspension, until Ash cleared his throat, breaking away from her. Slamming back into reality, Misty scooped up Pikachu once more and followed Ash into the ballroom.

The dinner for the wedding reception was meant to be elaborate, but for the rehearsal, it was much simpler. The choices for main courses were either chicken or vegetarian, and there were only the salad and dessert courses in accompaniment, instead of the standard six courses. Misty and Ash sat up at the long rectangular table, along with the bride, groom, and remainder of the wedding party. They ate in relative silence. The most that Misty could get out of Ash was small talk. She moped a little as she ate her chocolate mousse, disappointed in herself. She used to be able to make him laugh with ease. Why couldn't she do it now?

When it had come time for his speech, Ash cleared his throat. The room grew quiet, awaiting his words. Misty stared at him, making him more nervous. He grunted, clearing his throat once more.

"I was going to make this grand speech," he began, peering around the room. "However, I feel like saying it now would ruin it for tomorrow. So I'll just say this. Tracey and Daisy, you better not chicken out and rob all of these people of the greatest speech that they will ever hear."

"Sure thing," Daisy laughed.

"I wouldn't think of backing out at this point," Tracey agreed.

Everyone else chuckled at the joke Ash had made, putting him a little more at ease. They finished their desserts and moved on to the final event of the evening. Daisy and Tracey had decided to do things a little out of order, putting the dinner immediately after the meet and greets. They wanted to end the evening with the opening of the gifts. Misty took her duty of recording what they got and who gave it to them. She noticed Ash hanging off to the side, watching from afar. In the few hectic moments in which she had taken her eyes off of him, he had disappeared, possibly gone back up to his room without a word to anyone. As Daisy handed her another opened gift, she stared at the open doorway wistfully, the pang in her heart growing exponentially. How was she meant to help him?

Later that night, Misty stood in front of his suite door, debating on whether or not she should knock on it. The rehearsal dinner had ended hours ago. She was certain that everyone else had gone to bed, but here she was, alone in the hallway, fighting with herself. Pikachu lay in her bed upstairs. She wanted to go join him, but there was a nagging feeling telling her to check on Ash. She just hoped that she wasn't waking him by doing this.

She gently rapped on the door, praying that he wouldn't be angry with her if she had woken him up. There was no answer at first, so she knocked a little louder. She sighed, giving up. She started walking away only to be startled by a large bang and the door flying open. She whipped back around to see Ash standing in the middle of the doorway, dripping wet and wearing nothing but a towel.

Misty's heart leapt up into her throat. She had seen him shirtless before, but not for several months. She stared at his toned body, admiring the definition. Had he been working out? She didn't recall his abs ever looking like that. Not to mention, that towel was hanging awfully low on his hips. One slip and he'd be baring everything to her. She blushed, diverting her gaze to the wall next to him.

"Misty, what are you doing here this late?"

"I—uh—came to check on you."

"Why?"

"Well," she said, her eyes moving back to his body. She did her best to concentrate on his face. "You seemed down earlier, so I wanted to make sure that you were all right."

"Oh, right," he said, moving back inside of his room. "Come on inside then and close the door behind you."

She trailed behind him, grabbing the doorknob as she walked through the threshold. The door closed with a click, and she moved further into the suite. The bathroom light was on, steam coming out from the open door. She strolled into the middle of the room as he plucked a few articles of clothing from his drawers. He passed her on his way back to the bathroom.

"I'm—um—going to throw some clothes on. Make yourself comfortable."

"K."

Misty peered around the room, deciding on where she should place herself. She shuttered at the thought of sitting on his bed. The image of him naked popped in her head. Blood rushing to her face, she retreated to the small love seat in the corner. This had been the first time she stepped into his suite. It was slightly different from hers. The kitchenette was separated from the rest of it, jutting out into the side of the terrace slightly. The sitting area, where Misty currently resided, was in the opposing corner, across from Ash's bed.

He emerged from the bathroom, using the towel to dry his hair. He had put on a pair of shorts and a simple tee shirt. Misty tried to calm her rapid heartbeat as he shuffled his feet against the carpet, moving over to her. He flopped down on the couch, placing one arm over the back of it, in her direction.

"Are you okay?" Misty blurted out. "Because you don't seem okay. This morning you were fine until we ran into that girl…Serena was her name right?"

"Yeah, that's her name."

"Who is she?"

Ash sighed, knowing that Misty would not let this go. "We used to be friends."

"And?"

"And—" He hesitated. How much should he tell her? "I guess you could say we got in a fight. We didn't exactly leave things on good terms."

"Oh," she said. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean 'is that all?'" he snapped at her.

"We used to fight all the time," she commented. "And we're still friends."

"That's different," Ash muttered.

Misty was confused. "How is that different?"

"Let's say it was more of her idea to cut me off like that. She didn't treat me too kindly last time I saw her."

Misty did not reply this time. Instead, she made a silent 'oh' with her mouth. She was unsure of how to reply to that. The Ash she knew would not be used to rejection like that. He made friends easily. She empathized with him though, for she had faced it many times when she was younger. It was why she had been so snarky and brash when they had first met. After being rejected by many friends, she had built these walls around her in order to protect her heart. Ash broke her down eventually with his charm and determination, even though he had not been aware of what he had been doing. She had to help him like he helped her all those years ago.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, astonished. "You didn't do anything."

She looked at him while giving a slight smile. "I'm sorry that someone hurt you. It sucks when someone you thought had your back disappoints you. I'm sorry that you've had to go through that. I don't like seeing you unhappy, you know? You don't have to worry about losing me though. I wouldn't stop being your best friend for anything."

As Ash stared at her in amazement, realization slammed into him, nearly leaving him breathless. Why had he wasted all that time dating Serena? Why had he wasted years without Misty at all? It had always been her; he had been too stupid to recognize it. All of those years of traveling around with her. The moments they shared. The time he nearly died in the Pokémon Tower. The night that they shared their first dance. When he had lost in his first Pokémon League tournament. Traveling with her in the Orange Islands. His jealousy toward Danny when she gave him attention. Rudy. When she mentioned them getting married someday. How he felt when they had to separate for the first time. His joy those times when he came home and she was there. It had finally hit him like one of her mallets—he had loved her from the moment she had pulled him from the water.

As the gentle breeze blew in from the open door to the terrace, Ash could not take it anymore. With one swift moment, he rushed forward, crashing his lips against hers. Misty's eyes grew wide. She had not been expecting this to happen. After the initial shock had worn off, she broke away from him.

"Ash, what are you doing?"

"Something that I should have done a long time ago."

"Are you drunk again?" She had to ask. It was like the last time he had kissed her. Yet, this time, she didn't taste alcohol. Regardless, she needed to be sure.

"What do you mean again?"

"Uh never mind."

Now it was her turn to kiss him, partly out of want, partly to distract him from the first time they had shared a kiss. He responded by kissing her back aggressively. As they continued to explore each other's mouth, a groan erupted from Ash's chest. Misty responded by running her hands through his slightly wet and messy hair. He wrapped his arms around her body, pushing her further into the love seat.

Once the two started, they could not stop. After an eternity of kissing, Ash scooped up Misty's tiny frame, their lips still locked together, and carried her to his bed. He planted gentle kisses on her neck, eliciting a soft moan from her mouth. She shivered as his fingers brushed against her skin when he lifted her dress off of her. There was a removal of even more clothes, until there was nothing to separate the two bodies from each other.

Little did the two know that as soon as one of them made that crucial step, fully committing to moving forward, never looking back, the damn would break. They could never go back after this point, not that either of them wanted to in that moment. That warm, perfect night, the two bore their bodies and souls to each other. The bright, shining stars danced and smiled at them as the two bodies became one.