Misty's birthday means Misty's birthday one shot!

Pretty appropriate too, since we got to see her little 3D model for the new games today. I was in work and might have squealed a bit when I saw ^^

Michelle: 9 and a half years old

Elizabeth: 3 and a half years old


Decorating Disasters

As soon as Elizabeth's eyes fell onto the tray of cupcakes, they began to sparkle.

"Oooh!" She squealed, gripping the side of the table where it sat. "Yummy cupcakes!"

The little girl turned her head a bit and realized there was a bowl of homemade frosting beside the tray with several small bottles of food coloring in front of it. One of them had a pink cap, which Elizabeth was quickly drawn to and picked up with her little fingers.

"Don't even think about it!"

Elizabeth squeaked and looked over her shoulder, finding her older sister standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Think –bout what?"

"Dyeing that frosting pink," Michelle sighed, pointing at the bowl.

Elizabeth glanced at the food coloring in her hand, and then the frosting. "But pink is so pretty!"

"To you," Michelle replied. "Grammy and I made those cupcakes for Mommy's birthday, and her favorite color is green."

"Green's ugly," Elizabeth complained, scrunching up her nose.

"Again, to you," Michelle muttered, moving forward and plucking the food coloring from Elizabeth's hand. "Your birthday is next month, you can have pink cupcakes then."

"But how come Grammy left all the colors out?" Elizabeth asked, pointing at the other bottles of food coloring.

"They all just came out of a box," Michelle explained.

"How come Grammy didn't just buy green frosting?" Elizabeth continued.

"She says everything tastes better when we make it ourselves," Michelle recited. "And she's right!"

"Mommy just buys frosting from the store," Elizabeth noted.

"Um, yeah…"

"Why doesn't Mommy make it like Grammy?"

"I don't think she can."

"Why?"

"She says she's not as good at cooking or baking as Grammy is."

"Why?"

Michelle furrowed her brow. "I don't know. How come you're asking so many questions?"

"I like 'em!" Elizabeth giggled.

"Well, I think that's enough of them for now," Michelle sighed.

Elizabeth twisted her mouth and turned back around to look at the cupcakes again. "I wanna help!"

Michelle seemed hesitant as soon as those words left her little sister's mouth. It's not that she didn't want the girl's help, but Elizabeth wasn't always the best at listening to other people or following instructions. Michelle wanted her mother's special birthday surprise to come out perfect, and that was certainly no guarantee with Elizabeth helping out.

"Please?" Elizabeth chirped, clasping her hands together as she leaned forward on her toes.

Michelle sighed and slumped her shoulder. Sometimes she hated how cute Elizabeth was…it made it pretty hard to say no to her, and the little girl knew it.

"Fine," Michelle finally relented.

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered.

"But you have to listen to me and Grammy, okay?" Michelle ordered. "No doing your own thing or getting all creative!"

"Okay!" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Alright, Michelle, ready to start decorating those cupcakes?"

Delia had just walked into the kitchen, drying off her hands on her apron. When she realized Elizabeth was standing next to her older sister, the grandmother beamed at her youngest grandchild. "Well, look who's up from their nap!"

"Grammy, Shelly said I could help!" Elizabeth crowed.

"She did?" Delia asked. "Well that was very sweet of her!"

Elizabeth grinned and nodded her head.

"The cupcakes should certainly be cool enough by now to start putting the icing on them," Delia continued, walking over to the table. "We'll have to dye it first before we put it in the icing bag!"

"Bag?" Elizabeth repeated. "You put frosting in a bag, Grammy?"

"Yes, that's how we get it to come out in a big swirl!" Delia confirmed.

"Oooh," Elizabeth cooed. "Mommy doesn't do that!"

"I told you, I don't think she can," Michelle stressed.

"Grammy can teach Mommy!" Elizabeth cried.

Michelle raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her grandmother. "Can you?"

"I've tried…" Delia hummed awkwardly. "But it isn't easy, you know! It takes a lot of practice."

"Mommy's not pash-int," Elizabeth murmured, shaking her head.

Delia appeared confused, to which Michelle helpfully informed her, "I think she means patient."

"Oh!" Delia breathed, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "Lizzie, your mommy is very patient! Like I said, it's not an easy thing to do!"

Michelle pursed her lips before bending down to whisper to her younger sister, "I think you're probably right and Grammy's just being nice."

"Mommy gets mad easy," Elizabeth added, nodding her head.

Michelle smirked and stood back up straight. "So, green for the frosting, right?"

"Yes!" Delia confirmed, removing the bright green top from one of the bottles of food coloring. "Now, we want to make sure we use just the right amount so it comes out the right shade of green!"

"Bright green!" Elizabeth cried.

"That's what we're going for," Michelle confirmed.

Delia tilted the bottle and squeezed three small drops of liquid into the frosting. Elizabeth leaned in to get a better look, frowning when she saw the drops. "That's too dark, Grammy!"

"They look dark now, but it'll look a lot different once we start mixing it in with the frosting," Delia explained to the little girl. "It's almost like magic!"

"I wanna see!" Elizabeth gasped.

Delia giggled and handed Michelle a large spoon. "Michelle, why don't you show Elizabeth what I mean?"

"Sure!" Michelle chirped.

The older girl began to mix the frosting, folding in the drops of food coloring as she moved the spoon. Elizabeth watched intently, her eyes widening as the white frosting slowly began to turn a pretty spring green color.

"Whoa!" Elizabeth breathed. "Grammy, look!"

"See? It's cool!" Delia laughed softly. "And Michelle is doing an excellent job of mixing everything together, isn't she?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth murmured.

After stirring for a few more seconds, Michelle tilted the bowl towards her grandmother and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect!" Delia replied. "Are you happy with it?"

"I think so…" Michelle trailed off, taking another look inside the bowl.

"No!"

Michelle furrowed her brow and turned her head. "What do you mean no?"

"More green," Elizabeth complained, pointing at the frosting.

"Really? You don't think this is green enough?" Michelle questioned. Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't know…I think if we add more, it'll be too green."

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth argued. "More green!"

Delia hummed and took a look in the bowl herself. "I think Michelle has a point, dear. We don't want the frosting to come out too dark! Then it won't look as pretty on the cupcakes."

This didn't seem to do much to placate Elizabeth. The little girl was convinced the frosting wasn't green enough, and no one was listening to her. So she started to pout, crossing her arms as she shot her glare at her sister and grandmother.

"Grammy…" Michelle groaned.

"It's alright, you two," Delia assured the girls, wanting to keep them from starting a fight. "We have lots of other things to decorate the cupcakes with after we've iced them! You'll be able to make the cupcakes look however you'd like!"

This managed to get a big smile out of Elizabeth, but now it was Michelle's turn to look displeased. "I thought all of the cupcakes were going to look the same!"

Delia was taken off guard by the sudden shift in her granddaughters' dispositions. "Well…it's okay if they look a bit different! That just makes it more fun, right?"

Michelle frowned. "Not really…"

"How about we just put the frosting on the cupcakes first, and then we'll deal with all the other decorations?" Delia asked, picking up the frosting bag for emphasis. "There's not much we can do with plain cupcakes, after all!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. Michelle, on the other hand, was now directing her own glare directly at the younger girl.

Delia laughed nervously and moved one of the trays towards them. "Right, frosting first!"

XXX

As soon as Michelle's eyes fell onto the plate of cupcakes in front of her younger sister, they nearly fell out of her head.

"Lizzie, what are you doing?!" Michelle cried.

Elizabeth was unaffected by her sister's obvious horror. She thought her cupcakes were just beautiful! The beautiful swirls of green frosting atop each cupcake were adorned by tiny candy pearls, rainbow sprinkles in the shapes of stars, edible gold glitter, a toothpick with a paper Pokémon at its tip, and drizzles and globs of pink gel.

"Dec-ating!" Elizabeth finally replied, a cheerful infliction in her voice.

"They're so-"

"Pretty!" Delia quickly interrupted her older granddaughter. Michelle shot her grandmother a look of disbelief, to which Delia replied, "Lizzie's worked very hard on her cupcakes, and she really likes them!"

"I have the prettiest ones!" Elizabeth added.

Michelle growled lowly. Elizabeth's cupcakes were incredibly sloppy, and anyone who looked at them would know that. Her cupcakes, however, were perfect. She had made sure each one came out meticulously, and as identical as possible. They were neat and pretty and exactly what Michelle had wanted them to be!

Elizabeth's cupcakes were going to ruin the whole thing.

"Am I allowed to come in the kitchen yet?"

Michelle gasped, but couldn't protest before Elizabeth replied, "uh huh!"

Misty stepped into the kitchen, her calm expression evolving into one of excitement as soon as she saw the cupcakes on the table.

"Oh, is this why you all kicked me out of here?" Misty asked.

"Yeah…" Michelle sighed.

"Birthday cupcakes for Mommy!" Elizabeth squealed.

"They smell amazing!" Misty breathed. "And they look even better!"

"Seriously?" Michelle deadpanned.

"Of course," Misty giggled. "Why, you don't think so?"

"No…I didn't say that…" Michelle stammered.

"Yeah, but you sounded pretty surprised," Misty snickered.

"Mommy, look!" Elizabeth cried, running over to her mother and pulling at her hand. "Look at mine!"

The little girl "dragged" her mother over to the table, pointing at the cupcakes she had decorated.

"You did those all by yourself?" Misty gasped.

"Ya!" Elizabeth confirmed.

"They're beautiful!" Misty crowed. "You did a great job, sprinkle!"

"I did, Mommy!" Elizabeth agreed. "I worked hard!"

"I can tell!" Misty giggled.

Michelle was surprised. Her mom seemed to genuinely like Elizabeth's cupcakes. Then again, she supposed that was part of her job as a mom. She couldn't really tell her own daughter that her cupcakes looked silly. It was still pretty nice of her, Michelle decided.

"What about mine, Mommy?" Michelle asked, pointing at her own cupcakes.

Misty took a look at those and another big smile flashed on her face. "Yours are beautiful too, Shelly! You're both so talented! And I'm very grateful that I have two beautiful daughters who love me enough to make me a special birthday surprise like this!"

Michelle giggled and offered her mother her own grin. "Of course!"

"Would it be alright if I ate one now?" Misty asked slyly.

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth cried. "Mommy, you can't eat cupcakes before dinner!"

"Even when they're my birthday cupcakes?" Misty gasped.

"No," Elizabeth confirmed, shaking her head.

"Oh, alright," Misty sighed, though she was still smiling. "I'll wait until after dinner, then!"

"Good!" Elizabeth declared. "Me and Shelly are gonna play with Daddy and Denny now!"

Michelle blinked hard. "We are?"

Elizabeth nodded and ran forward to grab her sister's hands. "Let's go!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless followed after her younger sister. Misty smirked at the two as they went, while Delia let out a relieved sigh and turned towards her daughter-in-law.

"I'm glad to see them getting along again," Delia murmured.

"Were they not?" Misty asked, tilting her head.

"It wasn't anything serious, but they were both getting a bit testy with one another," Delia explained. "I'm used to seeing Michelle argue with Aiden occasionally, but not her and Elizabeth."

"Yeah, Elizabeth is starting to realize she can use her words and her little fists as sparring tools just as well as her big brother and sister," Misty snickered, using her finger to scoop up some leftover icing from the bowl and eat it. "Growing up really is a curse, though I think more so for Ash and I than it is for the kids."

"Has she started doing that often?" Delia asked timidly.

"Not too often," Misty laughed. "I think she's still figuring out how exactly to take them on. But I will say she's getting good at it pretty quickly. Ash is a little freaked out by it. I'm not because, well…this is basically a repeat performance of me as a kid with my sisters."

"I must admit I was a little taken off guard by it myself," Delia chuckled nervously. "But considering I'm an only child, and Ash is an only child…I'm assuming that's fair."

"Very much so," Misty agreed.

"I hope this isn't putting a damper on your birthday," Delia fretted.

"It's not, I promise!" Misty assured with a giggle. "When the kids are doing sweet things, like making me cupcakes, it's pretty easy for me to forget about any of their petty little arguments."

Delia seemed impressed by Misty's calmness. "So you're not concerned about them playing outside together?"

"No, they're with Ash," Misty refuted. "Even if they start to fight, Ash needs a bit more practice dealing with it and separating them. I'm kind of considering that my birthday gift from him."

Delia smirked. "Does he know that?"

"No," Misty replied simply. "I'm just hoping he figures it out along the way."

"Really? My son?"

"Wishful thinking, I know. But hey, maybe I'll have a birthday miracle this year!"