This one isn't really a continuation of the last one shot, but they go hand in hand pretty nicely, so I thought I'd post this one next!

Elizabeth: 3 years old


A Sweet Secret

"Daddy!"

"Aw, there's my beautiful ballerina!"

Elizabeth giggled excitedly, running out of the studio she'd been dancing in. The little girl looked so sweet in her light pink tutu dress; her dark red hair tied up into a previously neat bun that had since become a little loosened. She continued to giggle as her father scooped her up, rubbing their noses together while he chuckled himself. "Did you have fun, Lizzie?"

"Ya!" Elizabeth squealed.

Ash's smile somehow found a way to grow even wider. "That's great! You need help taking your shoes off?"

Elizabeth quickly shook her head. "No! I'm a big giwl!"

"Okay!" Ash laughed again, placing his daughter back on the floor. "Show me."

The toddler ran over to her dance bag, sitting down beside it. She yanked off her ballet slippers without any trouble and stuffed them into her bag without having to be prompted, which impressed Ash. After all, the little girl had to be reminded pretty consistently at home to put her things away.

With her ballet shoes off, Elizabeth was able to work on slipping her sneakers back on feet. And despite not bothering to undo the Velcro on them, she managed to get them on quite quickly, which only further amused her father.

"Wow, you really are a big girl!" Ash marveled. "Look at you: getting those shoes off and on all by yourself!"

Elizabeth giggled and jumped to her feet, grabbing the straps of her bag and clutching them against her chest. "I am!"

Ash smiled, and as he looked down at his young daughter, an idea slowly crept into his head. He knew he probably should've just kept it to himself, but he also couldn't help himself. Biting his lower lip for a short second, Ash suddenly blurted out, "hey, Lizzie, do you want to go get a little treat?"

"Tweat?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Yeah!" Ash crowed. "I'm sure you worked really hard in class today, so I think you deserve a little something special! But it'll have to be our little secret, okay? No telling Mommy! You promise?"

Elizabeth suddenly looked quite serious for such a young child and rapidly nodded her head. Chuckling, Ash picked Elizabeth up once again and cheered, "great, let's go!"

"Up!" Elizabeth cried, patting her father's shoulder.

"Up?" Ash repeated, tilting his head. "I'm already holding you, silly!"

"No!" Elizabeth cried, patting his shoulder again. "Up hewe!"

"Oh, you want to sit on my shoulders," Ash breathed. "Okay, I'll put you up there once we get outside. I don't want you hitting your head on the doorway!"

Ash exited the building and, once he was outside, lifted the toddler onto his shoulders. Elizabeth squealed in delight, much to Ash's amusement, and quickly leaned against the top of her father's head. "High!"

"Too high?" Ash asked a bit nervously. He felt perfectly comfortable with Elizabeth on his shoulders, but he didn't want her to be scared. He also could never get Misty's voice out of his head, warning him to be very careful with the girl whenever he carried her like this.

"No!" Elizabeth quickly cried. "Is fun!"

Relieved, Ash laughed warmly and held onto his daughter's legs. "I should've figured…you're super brave, Lizzie! Hold on tight, kay?"

"Kay!" Elizabeth chirped.

That response just led Ash to smirk. Everyone always said Elizabeth was like his mini me, and he supposed that was true. Not only did she have his face, but she also had his personality, almost to a T. The little girl was adventurous, sweet, insanely friendly, and fearless, among other things. She could sometimes be quite the handful for her parents and older siblings, but it was awfully hard to stay mad once she batted her eyelashes at you or gave you a giant hug.

Or, in Ash's case, just looked at him.

That's why he couldn't help himself, and felt it was totally fine to take Elizabeth for a little treat. After all, she had promised not to tell Misty; and you could always trust a three-year-old!

…okay, maybe he was in trouble.

XXX

In reality, Ash knew that this probably wasn't the best idea. He could practically hear Misty in his head (again) ranting that they were both going to spoil their appetites.

But watching Elizabeth across from him, happily drinking her strawberry milkshake, made it hard for him to regret taking her out for the treat.

"Is it good?" Ash asked amusedly.

"Ya!" Elizabeth giggled once she pulled away from her straw. "Is yummy!"

"I'm glad!" Ash crowed.

Elizabeth giggled and propped her elbows up on the table, resting her head in her hands. "Do you wike yours, Daddy?"

Ash quickly glanced over at his own chocolate milkshake and smiled. "Yeah, I do! Do you want to try some of mine?"

Elizabeth's eyes lit up and she quickly nodded her head. Before Ash could make a move, Elizabeth lowered her arms and pushed herself halfway onto the table, leaning over to take a sip from her father's milkshake.

"Hey, I could've helped you out, ya know!" Ash chuckled.

Elizabeth pulled back and beamed at him. "No, I'm a big giwl!"

"I'm sorry, how could I forget?" Ash drawled playfully.

Elizabeth shrugged before continuing to slurp at her father's milkshake. Ash's eyes widened, and upon seeing that, Elizabeth sat back in her seat and started to giggle wildly.

"Hey, I thought you were just going to take one little sip!" Ash spiritedly cried.

Fluttering her eyelashes, Elizabeth squeaked, "nope!"

"Oh, you're teasing me, huh?" Ash asked, causing Elizabeth to nod. "That's the kind of stuff Mommy usually likes to do to me! Did you know that?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth confirmed.

Ash smirked. "You think you're like Mommy?"

Elizabeth, having finally gone back to drinking her own milkshake, nodded.

"Do you think you're more like me or more like Mommy?" Ash prodded, his smirk widening.

"Mmm…" Elizabeth hummed, pulling away from her straw while she thought. "Daddy!"

"Me?" Ash breathed, his face lighting up as Elizabeth nodded. "I think so too!"

"We'we silly," Elizabeth chirped, grinning at her father.

"We are both silly, yes," Ash agreed. "And we both like sweets! I bet you and I could both eat candy and cookies all day, huh? Or…drink milkshakes, just like these!"

"Ya!" Elizabeth cheered.

Ash grinned at his young daughter. She was just so cute! All of a sudden, he didn't feel so guilty about taking her for this fun little outing. Even if Misty found out, he figured Elizabeth would be able to charm their way out of it with her too.

There we go! He thought excitedly to himself, Elizabeth's smile widening as he continued staring at her. Wish I would've thought that sooner…

XXX

"You two were awfully late coming home. Don't tell me you got lost, Ash."

The Pokémon Master grimaced as he closed the front door behind him. "No, I didn't get lost. I know how to get home from the dance studio."

Misty smirked, her eyes wandering down towards a bouncy Elizabeth. "I was only kidding! Sort of."

She closed the gap between her and Ash in order to give him a quick kiss, which succeeded in getting him to relax. In the interim, Elizabeth had made her way over to the couch, climbed atop it, and was now jumping up and down its length like it was a trampoline.

"Elizabeth, no jumping on the couch!" Misty scolded, turning towards her daughter. "You know better than that, little lady."

The young girl quickly lowered herself to a sitting position, smiling meekly at her mother. Misty returned her smile and asked, "do you want to take your bath before or after dinner?"

"I'm not hungwy," Elizabeth replied.

"That's not what I…wait," Misty trailed off, her brow furrowing. "What do you mean you're not hungry? Do you feel okay, sweetheart?"

Elizabeth nodded her head, and had Misty turned around, she would've seen Ash becoming very nervous.

"Well, you should be hungry after all that dancing you did," Misty mused. "You usually come home begging for food!"

The little girl simply shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Oh well, I'm sure you'll get hungrier in a little while," Misty sighed, figuring it wasn't worth dwelling on. "But since you don't need to eat right away, why don't we go take a bath now?"

"No!" Elizabeth cried, shaking her head.

Misty groaned. "Lizzie, you're going to have to take a bath eventually. Wouldn't you rather get it over with? Then maybe you'll be hungry afterwards!"

"No," Elizabeth repeated with a whine.

Rolling her eyes, Misty looked over at Ash and pleaded, "could you please help me out? You're pretty good at getting Elizabeth to do things when she doesn't want to."

"Sure!" Ash replied, his voice several octaves too high. Misty raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing else. Walking around her so he could be closer to the couch, Ash urged, "come on, Lizzie. It'll be a nice, quick bath! Then we can play together."

Elizabeth frowned, and then moaned, "but we had fun, Daddy!"

"I know we did," Ash rushed out, feeling Misty's gaze burning into the back of his head. "But now it's time to do something a little less fun. But we can have lots more fun afterwards!"

The little girl still seemed displeased, but finally squeaked out a dull, "kay."

"Thank you," Misty breathed, smiling at Ash. "You're such a big help!"

Ash chuckled, his tension easing up. "Don't mention it!"

Misty picked Elizabeth up off the couch, giving the little girl a kiss on the forehead before holding her close. As she walked towards the stairs, Misty stopped next to Ash and asked, "by the way, what did Lizzie mean by 'you had fun'?"

Ash shrugged. "Just from our little trip home. That's the reason it took us so long: we took the scenic route."

Although she didn't seem to 100% buy the answer, Misty still nodded and continued her way up the stairs. Ash spun around and met Elizabeth's gaze, the two of them smirking at one another.

Yeah, we're definitely the same person.


Those two are absolutely partners in crime. They can cause quite a bit of trouble when they're together! Maybe even more than Elizabeth and her siblings...