Yesterday was Elizabeth's birthday (I know, I'm late) so I wanted to get up a one shot specially for her!

Elizabeth: 11 months

Sleep Strike

"So…Elizabeth has decided that sleep is overrated."

Ash, who hadn't even been able to ask his question before Misty answered it, smirked as she placed the wide-awake baby on their bed. "Silly girl must think she's missing out on something good!"

"I wasn't expecting any kind of sleep regression right now," Misty sighed, pressing the palm of her hand against her chin. "I know it can happen at any time, but the books all say that there generally isn't a major one expected at this age."

"Come on, Mist, those books don't know anything!" Ash chuckled.

Misty tilted her head down and narrowed her eyes. "You depended on those books as if your life depended on it before the twins were born."

"Yeah, but that's because I literally had no idea what I was doing," Ash scoffed. "Now I've got enough experience to know that I know our kids a lot better than some so called 'expert' who's never met them before!"

To prove his point, Ash perched himself on his knees and leaned down to be at eye level with the baby. Elizabeth cooed happily as her father looked at her, reaching out to poke his nose.

"At least she's nice and calm!" Ash laughed. "I remember every time Michelle didn't want to go to sleep as a baby, she'd scream her head off."

"True, but it's still not good that she won't go down," Misty groaned, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Pleased that her mother was now close to her, Elizabeth turned away from Ash and instead crawled towards Misty, trying to squirm onto her lap. "Certainly not for her, but not for us either. We can't be up all night entertaining a baby!"

"I can…" Ash begrudgingly murmured.

Misty smirked, pulling the eager baby onto her lap. "Yeah, right. You can barely wake up in the morning as it is!"

"Well, maybe I don't need to wake up in the morning," Ash replied with a lackadaisical shrug. "Lizzie and I could both sleep in after hanging out all night!"

"Nice try, but you need to go to work in the morning," Misty reminded him. "And Lizzie not liking to sleep applies to all hours of the day. She's up bright and early in the morning, all ready to play on the lowest amount of sleep possible. Isn't that right, sweetie?"

Misty bounced Elizabeth up and down, causing the baby to squeal with delight. Her giggles attracted Pikachu, who had previously burrowed himself beneath Ash's pillow. With newfound fervor, the electric type scurried over to Misty, beaming at the amused infant in her lap. "Pi-ka!"

The mouse's cheerful greeting only served to further amuse Elizabeth, who somehow managed to find an even higher octave for her excited shrieks.

"Hey, there's an idea!" Ash crowed. "Pikachu, would you like to hang out with Lizzie all night? You guys always have such a good time together!"

Pikachu looked over his shoulder and shot his trainer an incredulous look. Misty, meanwhile, was quick to interject, "we don't want her to be up all night, Ash! We want her to go to sleep!"

"I know, but if she's not gonna sleep anyway…"

"No," Misty reiterated with a groan. "We're getting this kid to sleep and that's that! I refuse to give up so easily. Which, now that I think about it, is kind of weird. Since when do you give up so easily?"

Ash furrowed his brow. "Who said I was giving up?"

"You told on yourself when you tried saddling our daughter onto Pikachu," Misty scoffed. "I never thought I'd see the day where Ash Ketchum was beset by a stubborn baby."

"Hey, all of our kids have frustrated me plenty over the years, thank you very much," Ash grumbled before clearing his throat. "But that's not the same as giving up! I don't give up. And I'll prove it to you!"

Misty blinked, but before she could ask Ash to clarify, he slid out of bed and marched over to her with his eyes set firmly on the baby in her lap. Elizabeth cooed happily as her father came closer, grinning and waving her little hand at him.

"Lizzie, it's bedtime," Ash declared, picking the baby up. "You're gonna go to sleep tonight, and that's final!"

His serious tone caused Elizabeth to drop her smile and squeak curiously. When his own face didn't change, Elizabeth mumbled softly and reached out to grab at her father's nose. Ash crossed his eyes to look at her hand, to which Elizabeth giggled loudly and began squeezing it.

"Yeah, you're really intimidating," Misty quipped while Pikachu snickered.

"Well, I might not be intimidating, but I'm no quitter!" Ash huffed. "Come on, Lizzie."

He carried the baby out of the room, her peering over his shoulder and staring at her mother in bewilderment. Misty smiled kindly and gave Elizabeth a tiny wave, Pikachu quickly taking notice and copying her. The infant didn't make a peep; not leaving her parents' bedroom, not being carried down the hall, and not being placed in her crib. Ever curious, Misty watched Ash put their daughter down on the screen of their baby monitor, Pikachu having climbed up onto her shoulder to watch as well.

"It's cute that Ash thinks he'll be able to get Lizzie to go to sleep," Misty commented to the electric type, not taking her eyes off the monitor. "I have to admire his determination, but I think in this case it's a little misguided."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu agreed.

By the time Ash returned to the bedroom, Misty still had the baby monitor in her hand and Pikachu on her shoulder. Ash was looking quite pleased with himself, and hardly seemed affected when no one said anything to him upon his arrival. "See? Nice and easy! Lizzie went down in the blink of an eye. I didn't have to fight her at all!"

"When you say she went down, do you mean she just laid down?" Misty tried to clarify. "Or did she actually go to sleep?"

"Well, she laid down…" Ash replied, scratching his cheek. "But that's a good sign, right? I mean, who just automatically falls asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow?"

"You do, a lot," Misty commented. "But Elizabeth's not you. Just because you got her to lie down – "

"I'm sure she'll be fast asleep in no time!" Ash chuckled. "Seriously, Mist, you've got to have a little faith in me. I think I really got through to her tonight!"

"…she's 11 months old."

"Sure, but she's super smart! Watch, that little girl will be sleeping before you know it!"

"She's standing up."

Ash blinked hard. "Wait, what?"

He rushed up beside Misty, who held the baby monitor out towards him. That's when Ash was able to see that in the short time he'd spent bragging to his wife about his success with their daughter, the baby had gotten to her feet and was gripping the crib's edge, staring out into the darkness of her bedroom.

"No way!" Ash protested in total disbelief. "When I brought her in there, she was yawning and everything!"

"There's no doubt in my mind she's tired, but that kid will fight it off like a wild Pokémon," Misty sighed, putting the baby monitor down on her side table as she got off the bed. "She knows how to trick you, too. It's almost scary."

Ash didn't respond, but he looked absolutely defeated. Feeling for his trainer, Pikachu jumped from Misty's shoulder onto his, rubbing up against the forlorn man's cheek.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Misty kindly implored her husband, patting him on his free shoulder. "I fall for it all the time, too!"

"Yeah, but I told you I wasn't going to give up!" Ash groaned.

"Who said you were giving up?" Misty genuinely inquired. "It's not your fault our daughter is so stubborn. Well…maybe it is. You're pretty stubborn yourself! But…so am I. So, I guess it's both of our faults."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Technically yes, but I got a little sidetracked," Misty admitted. "Either way, I know that you didn't give up. Don't dwell on it."

Ash watched her walk out of the room, unable to change the grimace on his face. Pikachu was quick to notice this, of course, and frowned himself as a result.

"Pi-ka, pikapi?"

"Maybe I do still need those baby books," Ash begrudgingly admitted. "I don't seem to know what to do with Lizzie."

"Cha…"

"I mean, sure, sometimes I had a hard time getting Aiden and Michelle to sleep when they were little, but that felt normal," Ash continued with a groan. "They would be all fussy and cry and carry on, which makes sense. But Elizabeth…it doesn't seem to faze her! She just pops back up without a care in the world! I didn't know babies could be this confusing."

"Pi, pika pikachu."

"Hey, what you just did to Daddy wasn't very nice."

Blinking, Ash looked over the shoulder that wasn't occupied by Pikachu, right at Misty's nightstand.

The baby monitor.

"Why do you insist on causing trouble, huh? We just want you to get some sleep!"

Scrambling over to the bedside table, Ash grabbed for the monitor, holding it close to his face. Misty had just finished lifting Elizabeth out of her crib and was hugging the baby against her chest. Elizabeth was gazing up at her, wide eyed and surprisingly attentive.

"Now you've got Daddy all worked up because you tricked him. And he loves you so much! You're such a sweet girl, and that's not what sweet girls do."

"…Dada?"

Elizabeth's squeaky little voice caused Ash to smile. He knew that, in reality, the baby had no idea that what she was doing was basically torturing her parents. She was just having a bit of fun while genuinely not wanting to go to sleep for whatever reason.

And now he felt guilty for getting frustrated with her.

Groaning to himself, Ash put the baby monitor down and hurried out of the room, Pikachu gripping his shoulder more tightly to stay on. When he suddenly appeared in the doorway of Elizabeth's room, it startled Misty a bit, but she was able to quickly return to her senses and ask, "what're you doing?"

Ash stammered for a few seconds, unable to formulate a proper response. When Misty raised an eyebrow in confusion, he finally managed to blurt out, "I just feel really bad, that's all."

Misty's other brow lowered so they were both furrowed. "Why do you feel bad?"

"Because I was trying my best to get Elizabeth to go to sleep, but it wasn't good enough, and then I kind of felt like she was doing it on purpose…" Ash grumbled, trailing off as he got to the end of his thought. Quickly shaking his head, Ash added as he rubbed the back of his neck, "but she's just a baby, and she's not trying to make any of us feel bad. I sure felt bad when that thought crossed my mind, though."

"You don't have to feel bad, you were just frustrated," Misty assured him, smirking when Elizabeth reached up for her face. "You're just not used to it; you don't get frustrated nearly as easily as I do. It's one of the things I love about you! You help me stay sane. But just because you don't always get frustrated doesn't mean you never get frustrated, even with your kids. It's totally normal!"

Sheepishly, Ash pointed at the baby in his wife's arms. "Do you think she'll understand that?"

Misty playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes, considering she has no idea you were ever frustrated in the first place."

"You don't know that!" Ash cried. "Babies sense all kinds of stuff. They're practically psychic types!"

Giggling, Misty looked down at their young daughter, cooing, "Is Daddy right? Are you a psychic type?"

Elizabeth squealed, waving her arms up and down.

"Are you trying to use light screen?" Misty asked, maintaining her high-pitched voice.

"Nah, looks more like psywave to me," Ash refuted, bending down beside Elizabeth so he was at eye level with her. Seeing her father in the corner of her eye, Elizabeth babbled and turned her head, grinning as soon as she saw him fully. "Lizzie would definitely be on the offense!"

"We all know how much you love your offensive attacks," Misty laughed, winking at her husband.

"Yeah, because the best defense is a good offense," Ash recited. "And it looks like Lizzie already knows that!"

The baby shrieked again, looking over her shoulder and grinning at her father. Ash smirked, knowing full well that Elizabeth had no idea what he was saying but was simply happy to be around him and Misty.

"Well, guess there's no point in trying to force Lizzie to go to sleep," Ash sighed, taking the baby back from his wife. "She's clearly not into it, and she's also clearly smarter than both of us."

"Smarter, or more manipulative?" Misty asked, gently poking Elizabeth's nose and causing her to giggle.

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Fair point."

"You also make a fair point: this kid is not about to fall asleep any time soon," Misty added, shaking her head. "So…what do we do?"

Ash inclined his head. "You're asking me?"

"Of course!" Misty giggled. "You're really good with her, Ash. What do you think we should do?"

Twisting his mouth, Ash glanced down at the baby in his grasp. She laughed and stuck the tip of her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes twinkling with mischief. That simple look caused Ash to dissolve into his own laughter, and ultimately, he decided, "let's just take her back into our room for now. Maybe if she hangs out with us in our bed for long enough, it'll make her sleepy!"

Misty nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me!"

"Pa…" Elizabeth babbled, reaching up and grabbing for a startled Pikachu.

"Although Pikachu might not agree," Misty snickered, taking the mouse back from her husband. "Sorry, buddy. I know Elizabeth plays a little rough when she's overtired."

"Pa! Pa!" Elizabeth screamed, trying to turn around in Ash's hands to continue reaching for Pikachu.

Groaning, Ash held the squirmy baby against his hip to get a better grip on her, muttering to himself, "and to think I actually wanted them to hang out all night…"

Elizabeth's main goal in life is to obliterate everyone's best laid plans, lol.