It's May 22nd, which means it's Ash's birthday! I think I say this every year, but I really love the fact that Ash's birthday is canonical, because it almost makes us birthday twins (mine is 2 days before). Since he's one of my favorite characters of all time, I think that's super cool!
It also makes it super easy to remember, especially when it comes to writing ;)
Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old
Elizabeth: 2 and a half years old
The Big Birthday Secret
"Do you know whose birthday is coming up?"
"Me!"
Misty laughed as Elizabeth pointed at herself. "No, not yours, sweetheart. Daddy's!"
Elizabeth frowned and lowered her arms, unhappy with the real answer. Forrest's wife and Brandon's mother, who was sitting with the two, giggled and patted the toddler's head.
"Don't worry, your birthday will be here before you know it!" Olivia assured the girl before turning her attention onto Misty. "How old is Ash turning?"
"30," Misty replied, wiggling her eyebrows at the stunned younger woman.
"Wow, big birthday!" Olivia marveled. "What are you guys gonna do?"
"No clue," Misty sighed, shaking her head. "It's hard because I can't plan anything in front of Lizzie. She doesn't know how to keep a secret, so if she knows something, she'll tell Ash."
"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth cried.
"Uh huh," Misty playfully retorted.
Olivia laughed again when Elizabeth crossed her arms and pouted. "She's like a little teenager!"
"Trust me, it's not so cute when you deal with it on a daily basis," Misty deadpanned. "Even Ash gets flustered sometimes, and he's…well…Ash."
"You're a whole different little girl than your big sister was, huh?" Olivia asked the still pouting toddler.
"No," Elizabeth whined.
"She thinks that she and Michelle are like clones," Misty explained before dropping her voice to a barely audible whisper and assuring, "they're not."
"Wha-?" Elizabeth asked, turning around to stare at her mother.
"Mommy didn't say anything," Misty effortlessly fibbed. "You want to play with Vaporeon?"
Elizabeth's eyes lit up, and she quickly nodded her head. Misty retrieved her partner's poke ball and released the water type, watching as Elizabeth jumped up to meet the bubble jet Pokémon. "Lizzie, be careful!"
"Ooookay," Elizabeth trilled, earning another hearty laugh from Olivia.
"Vaporeon, keep an eye on her," Misty requested, unable to fight her own amused smile.
"Vay!" Vaporeon confirmed, swishing her tail before leading the toddler to a nearby patch of grass where they could run around.
"Do you have any ideas?" Olivia prodded, feeling it was safe to bring the topic back up now that Elizabeth was out of earshot.
"A couple of really rough ones," Misty sighed. "I just don't know what Ash would like best. He's pretty easy, so I don't think he'd actively dislike any of them, but I want to make this birthday special."
"What if you guys went somewhere?" Olivia suggested. "Like a vacation!"
"I've thought about that," Misty replied, nodding her head. "It's not a bad idea…there are no league conferences this month, and it falls right between two of them, so Ash might appreciate the break."
Olivia grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "I would just go with that. Any excuse to go on vacation is a good one!"
"I just have to find a place that's kid friendly," Misty murmured. "Ash won't want to go away without them, and he's not really one for just laying around while he's on vacation anyway. I sure wish he was…"
At that, Olivia snickered. "Oh, trust me. Forrest is no different. Maybe one day we should go on vacation without them!"
"Now you're speaking my language!" Misty giggled. "I'll just have to get through this one first."
"Hey Mom!"
Misty looked ahead and smiled when she saw her son racing over to her, his baseball cap halfway off his head.
"Practice over?" Misty asked knowingly, reaching out to adjust his hat once he got close enough to her.
"Yep!" Aiden confirmed, reaching for the water bottle he'd left at Misty's feet and taking a long drink from it.
"You boys certainly look like you worked hard," Olivia commented, turning her head as a tired looking Brandon approached her. "Maybe that means you'll sleep well tonight!"
"I'm more hungry than tired," Aiden replied once he had removed the water bottle from his mouth.
"Of course, you are," Misty droned, slowly shaking her head. "I don't think anything tires you out anymore, little guy."
"It's really hard!" Aiden agreed with a giggle.
"I'm really tired," Brandon groaned, barely able to open his own water bottle and leading his mother to do it for him.
"Can we switch sons?" Misty teasingly asked Olivia, earning a much stronger laugh from Aiden.
"Come on, Mom, I'm lots of fun!" Aiden boasted, pressing his hands against her knees and leaning into her.
"Yeah, barrels of it," Misty quipped with a smirk. That seemed to spark something in her, however, as she quickly changed her facial expression and asked, "Aiden, you know what Dad likes, don't you?"
"Uh huh!" Aiden confirmed. "Dad and I are like the same person!"
"Do you think he'd like to go somewhere for his birthday?" Misty asked.
"Like a vacation?" Aiden chirped.
"Mmhm," Misty hummed, nodding.
This led to Aiden's face lighting up. "Yeah! That'd be so much fun!"
Misty raised a wry eyebrow. "For you, or for Dad?"
"Me and Dad," Aiden replied quite seriously. "And you, and Shelly, and Lizzie, too!"
"Ah, I see," Misty giggled.
"Where are we gonna go?!" Aiden prodded, jumping up and down.
"I'm not sure," Misty admitted. "Maybe you and your sisters could help me figure it out!"
"Okay!" Aiden laughed. "But I don't know how helpful Lizzie will be…"
The aforementioned little girl was chasing Vaporeon around, the water type narrowly dodging the toddler's grasping hands over and over again.
"Wow, Vaporeon is so good with her!" Olivia marveled. "What a patient Pokémon!"
"Yeah, but it's probably time for me to put Vaporeon out of her misery," Misty snickered. Lifting her head up, Misty called, "Elizabeth, time to go! Aiden's all done with practice!"
Vaporeon ran towards her trainer, leading Elizabeth to gasp softly and follow after the water type. "Vaypy, wait!"
The bubble jet Pokémon pulled up beside her trainer, getting Elizabeth close enough to where Misty could reach out and gather the toddler into her arms.
"Gotcha!" Misty giggled.
Elizabeth started to laugh as well before sitting up straight and reaching for her brother. "Denny!"
Aiden groaned, but still reached out and took the little girl from his mother, holding her close to him.
"Aww!" Olivia cooed, causing Aiden to blush rather furiously. "Isn't that sweet? What a great big brother!"
"Lizzie, you're embarrassing me," Aiden groaned. "You're lucky you're so cute!"
Elizabeth smiled and said nothing, but rested her head on her brother's shoulder, clearly pleased with her own adorableness.
"Those two get along so well," Olivia giggled, getting to her feet and gathering up Brandon's things.
"Yeah, until Elizabeth gives him a reason to get worked up," Misty sighed, shaking her head. "Then there's no amount of eyelash batting that can get her out of trouble!"
XXX
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"
An exhausted Ash, newly returned from the Indigo Plateau, had barely sat down on the couch by the time an energetic Elizabeth came hopping up to him. Chuckling tiredly, Ash leaned over and picked the toddler up, pressing a kiss against her cheek as he sat her on his lap.
"There's my baby!" Ash cooed, smiling at the bubbly little girl. "I missed you while I was at work!"
Misty popped her head out from the next room, an eyebrow raised. "Ash, is she bothering you?"
"Of course not!" Ash laughed, bouncing his giggling daughter up and down. "Lizzie is a sweetie."
Misty smiled back at Ash and nodded her head before retreating back into the kitchen.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, tilted her head back to grin at her father. "Daddy!"
Ash glanced back down at the toddler and laughed. "What's up, pumpkin?"
"I…I know who's birfday's it's gonna go be!" Elizabeth babbled, just barely understandable.
For Ash, however, it was crystal clear. He snickered and asked, "you do?" When Elizabeth nodded her head, he followed up with a curious, "Who's birthday?"
Elizabeth's smile somehow managed to widen as she pointed at Ash. "Daddy!"
"My birthday?" Ash chuckled, causing Elizabeth to nod again. "That's right! It is almost Daddy's birthday! You gonna get me a nice present, baby?"
Elizabeth rapidly nodded her head. "Uh huh! We go away!"
"Away?" Ash repeated with a chuckle. "You're gonna leave me here by myself?"
"Nooo," Elizabeth groaned, flopping forward before sitting back up straight. "We all go! We go away to a -otel. Mommy an- Denny an- Shelly said so!"
"Elizabeth!"
Ash and Elizabeth both looked towards the stairs, where Michelle was standing with a look of horror on her face. Aiden had come running down as well, his attention switching frantically between the two parties.
"What happened?" Aiden breathed.
Whipping around with fire burning in her green eyes, Michelle bit, "Elizabeth just blabbed about our plans for Dad's birthday!"
Aiden's jaw dropped as he focused solely on a frowning Elizabeth. "I knew she was gonna mess it up!"
"Come on guys, don't be upset with your little sister," Ash pleaded, glancing down as the toddler whined and buried her face in his chest. "It's my fault! I was joking around and asked her if she was gonna get me a gift, and she must've taken it literally."
"No way, she always does this!" Michelle cried.
"Yeah, that was gonna be a really awesome surprise!" Aiden shouted.
"Whoa, why are you two so worked up?"
Aiden and Michelle turned around, finding that their mother had just walked into the room with a bewildered look on her face.
"Elizabeth told Dad about his birthday present!" Michelle whined.
"Mist, I already told them, it's not her fault," Ash piped up. "I asked her a question, and she answered it. She didn't realize I was just kidding around."
Misty sighed, walking over to Ash and lifting the whimpering Elizabeth off of his lap. "It's okay, sweetheart. We're not mad."
"I am," Aiden scoffed, folding his arms.
Turning around to face her older children, Misty continued, "it's not worth it to get so worked up about this if it's going to make your little sister so upset. She's still really young; she didn't mean to ruin the surprise."
"But now the whole thing is ruined!" Michelle cried.
"It's not!" Ash assured his older daughter. "I don't know where you were planning on taking me, or when! Those can still be surprises!"
"That's right," Misty agreed, nodding her head. "We'll just make sure Dad doesn't ask Elizabeth anymore questions!"
"Or we just won't plan anything else with her there," Aiden grumbled.
"That too," Misty conceded.
Elizabeth grumbled and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. Misty smiled sadly and patted the girl's back, cooing, "Cheer up, Lizzie. We all know it was an accident!"
"I sorry," Elizabeth murmured, looking quite sad.
"I know you are," Misty breathed. "And Aiden and Michelle do too. Right?"
She cast the older children a knowing look, to which they exchanged wary glances. When their mother unleashed a low, warning growl, however, they quickly brightened up.
"Of course!" Michelle chirped.
"Yeah, no big deal!" Aiden agreed.
Misty beamed at the sheepish toddler in her arms. "See? Everything is okay!"
Elizabeth nodded before asking, "I play wif Denny and Shelly?"
"You want to go play?" Misty asked, Elizabeth nodding her head. "Of course!"
She placed the little girl on the floor and watched as she ran up to her older sister, grabbing onto the girl's legs. "Play, Shelly!"
"Okay," Michelle sighed, smiling as she picked Elizabeth up. "We can go play in your room! That should keep you out of trouble. Let's go, Aiden!"
She skirted past her twin brother, who hurried behind her. Misty smiled to herself, pleased with how the situation had ended up. Ash, meanwhile, got up from the couch and stood behind Misty, a silly grin plastered on his face.
"So, where are you taking me?" He asked buoyantly.
Misty rolled her eyes. "Nice try, but I'm not as loose lipped as our daughter."
Ash smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a shot!"
