I promised you all Ash's birthday story, and here it is! Exactly one week later isn't too bad, right?

Aiden and Michelle: 7 years old

Elizabeth: 21 months old


Birthday Blunder

Misty needed a plan.

Her husband was dense, but somehow, he always seemed to catch onto things whenever she didn't actually want him to. So when it came to surprising him, Misty had to treat the whole thing like an elaborate mission.

Ash's 29th birthday was quickly approaching, and Misty knew she wanted to do something special for him. Aiden and Michelle, who were old enough to join in on her plans, thought it would be fun to throw their father a party. Misty actually thought it was a pretty good idea, although she did have to remind the twins that it couldn't be the same kind of party they would have.

"What's that mean?" Aiden questioned.

"That means nothing like bouncy castles or video games," Misty replied.

"But Daddy loves those things!" Michelle cried.

"I know he does," Misty confessed with a sigh, earning victorious smiles from her children. "I just thought maybe we could give him more of a…grown up party? Since, you know, he is a grown up."

"Dad's too cool to be a grown up," Aiden commented.

Misty smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "What about me? Am I too cool to be a grown up?"

Aiden began nervously looking around the room, quickly throwing out one of his arms to point at the head of his parents' bed. "You have a cool pillow!"

"I'll take that as a no," Misty groaned, hanging her head.

"Well, we definitely need a cake!" Michelle piped up, eager to change the subject. "All parties have cake!"

"And Dad's favorite thing to do is eat, so we need lots of other food too," Aiden chimed in.

"Right, food is definitely important," Misty agreed.

"And we should have all red and blue decorations, cause those are Daddy's favorite colors!" Michelle added.

"But have a bunch of Pikachu stuff also," Aiden suggested.

"You two have some very good ideas!" Misty complimented the twins. "I think it might be a good idea if we went out and started getting some of the stuff we need. What do you guys think?"

"Yeah!" Aiden cheered.

"But what about Daddy?" Michelle asked. "Isn't he gonna think something weird is going on when we go without him?"

"That's going to be our only problem," Misty grumbled. "We have to come up with a really good excuse about why we're all going out."

"Oh, I know!" Aiden cried. "Just tell Dad you had to go out and buy some clothes!"

"Aiden, that'll make Daddy freak out," Michelle sighed.

"Why?" Aiden questioned.

"Cause he always does that whenever Mommy says she's going shopping!" Michelle exclaimed.

"You know, I didn't realize that by trying to figure something out for Daddy's birthday I was going to get called out left and right…" Misty muttered.

"What if we just tell him we have to go to the grocery store?" Michelle asked.

"Then he'll wanna come!" Aiden whined. "The only kind of shopping Dad likes is for food."

Michelle hummed and furrowed her brow as she tried to think up another excuse. Aiden observed his sister for a moment before doing the same. Misty, on the other hand, seemed to have already come up with an idea of her own.

"I don't think we have to mention anything about shopping," Misty began, gaining the twins' attention. "What if we just tell Daddy we're going to visit your aunts for a little while?"

Both kids' faces lit up at the suggestion, Aiden lunging forward. "That's a good idea! Dad never wants to visit Aunt Daisy, Aunt Violet, and Aunt Lily!"

"He won't ask us a bunch of questions cause he won't care!" Michelle giggled.

"Okay, so that's the story we're going to go with," Misty decided. "Let's head downstairs and sell it!"

Aiden and Michelle scurried out of the bedroom and down the hall. Misty followed the two right down the stairs, expecting to find Ash in the same spot he'd been before: playing with Elizabeth on the living room floor. The twins came to a grinding halt at the foot of the stairs, however, causing Misty to raise an eyebrow.

"What are you guys-"

"Look!" Michelle cried in a hushed voice, pointing towards the couch.

Ash was sprawled out on it and snoring, his left arm hanging off the side and his right draped over the back of Elizabeth, who was fast asleep on his chest.

"Huh, guess we didn't have to make up any kind of story," Misty murmured.

"I can't believe Dad still takes naps," Aiden bemoaned. "Maybe he's not as cool as I thought…"

"We have to get out of here while they're asleep," Misty informed her two older children. "So out the front door as quietly as possible!"

Aiden and Michelle followed their mother's orders and briskly walked towards the front door, swinging it open and walking right outside. Misty cast one last glance at Ash and Elizabeth before sneaking out as well, closing the front door behind her as quietly as possible. Ash, of course, was an extremely heavy sleeper, and heard nothing.

So when he awoke a little while later, he was confused by the quiet in the house. Sitting up and keeping the still sleeping Elizabeth secure against his chest, Ash looked around the room, blinking his brown eyes.

"This is…kinda unusual…" Ash muttered to himself. "Quiet in this house is usually a bad thing…"

Elizabeth let out a small yawn and opened her own eyes, tilting her head back to stare at her bewildered father.

"Dada?" She babbled.

Ash glanced down at the toddler and smiled. "Hey, you're up! How's my little pumpkin?"

Elizabeth giggled and rubbed her cheek against Ash's chest, causing him to chuckle.

"Guess you're in a good mood after that nap!" Ash crowed.

Standing up from the couch, Ash walked over towards the kitchen and peered through the doorway, furrowing his brow when he didn't see anyone. He then took a step back and looked up the stairs, listening closely for voices or footsteps. But again…nothing.

"Misty?" Ash called. No response. "Aiden? Michelle?" Not a sound.

Elizabeth looked up at her father again. "Mommy? Denny? Shewwy?"

"I don't think they're here, sweetie," Ash crooned. "But where could they have gone…?"

"Pika!"

Ash looked down and realized that Elizabeth was pointing at Pikachu, who was still fast asleep on the couch's armrest.

"Oh, I see, you're just looking for someone to play with!" Ash laughed. "Well, you can't play with Pikachu right now. He's sleeping!"

Elizabeth lowered her arm and instead turned her big green eyes up towards her father. "Dada!"

Ash smirked. "Yeah, I can play with you! Since everyone else is gone, apparently…"

He placed the toddler on the floor and watched her scurry towards the center of the room, where all of the toys from before her and Ash's nap had been left. Plopping down on the floor, the little girl picked up one of her stuffed baby dolls and wrapped her arms around it, giving the toy a big hug as she rocked it back and forth.

Ash, however, was still confused about the unknown whereabouts of his wife and two older children. He wasn't necessarily worried, since they weren't in the house and had probably just gone off somewhere. Mostly, Ash was curious about where they had gone, and what they were up to. Them sneaking around usually meant something was up…very often, that meant a surprise for him. Ash knew he didn't catch onto things very quickly, but when it came to things like his birthday, which was quickly approaching, Misty was always sneaking around and trying to do things for Ash without him noticing. That's why he was always proud when he managed to figure out what she was doing; because usually, Misty was really good at it.

"Dada…"

Ash felt something constrict around his calf. Glancing down, he realized it was Elizabeth's arm. She was holding the stuffed doll in her other arm, and was once again staring up at her father with a look of innocence.

"Hmm?" Ash hummed.

"Pway wif me!" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Right, I'm sorry!" Ash apologized, taking a seat next to his young daughter. "Daddy got distracted."

Elizabeth didn't seem to mind all too much. As soon as Ash was sitting with her, she showed off a big smile and handed her toy over to him.

"You're giving me your baby?" Ash asked, causing Elizabeth to nod her head. "Oh, well, thank you! I'll take very good care of her for you!"

With the doll out of her hands, Elizabeth instead reached for a sparkly pink rubber ball. With an unintelligible and excited squeal, Elizabeth tossed the ball as hard as she could, causing it to bounce off the wall and whir right past Ash, nearly hitting him in the face. He gasped and stumbled back, turning his head just in time to see the ball hit the couch and settle on the floor with a few extra bounces. Pikachu managed to sleep through the minor chaos, fortunately, but Elizabeth was still laughing her head off, finding it to be just about the funniest thing.

"Elizabeth, no balls in the house," Ash groaned, crawling over to retrieve it. "Did you bring this in from outside?"

Elizabeth proudly nodded her head once again.

"We have to put this back outside, okay?" Ash continued. "We don't want to break anything in here!"

"Denny ball?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Yeah, Aiden plays with his baseballs outside," Ash replied.

Elizabeth reached for the ball again, but Ash moved it further away. The little girl began to fuss, but quieted down as soon as her father gave her back the stuffed doll she had given to him before. While Elizabeth quietly tended to her toy, Ash rested his head in his hand and started to think. Maybe Misty had said something to Elizabeth about going out? It sounded silly, because Elizabeth wasn't even 2 yet. But Ash also knew that anything was possible, especially when it came to his wife. With Misty, he had to expect everything.

"Lizzie, did you know it's almost Daddy's birthday?" Ash asked the toddler.

Elizabeth looked up from her toy and shook her head.

"No?" Ash playfully gasped. "Well, that's okay. You're still little, after all!"

"Dada dis?" Elizabeth babbled, holding up one hand with her fingers all spread out.

"No, I'm going to be much older than that," Ash laughed. "But thank you for the compliment!"

Elizabeth giggled, not fully understanding her father but enjoying the fact that he was happy.

"Sometimes, before my birthday, Mommy goes out to get me presents," Ash continued, carefully eyeing his daughter. "Do you know if that's where Mommy went?"

Elizabeth continued to giggle as she shook her head.

"No?" Ash murmured, slumping his shoulders.

"No, Dada," Elizabeth replied, glancing down as she patted the face of her stuffed doll.

Ash sighed and stretched his arms out behind him. "Alright, so I guess she didn't say anything to you. Worth a shot though, right?"

"No, Dada," Elizabeth repeated.

Ash sat back up straight and pulled his poke gear out of his pocket. "Maybe I should just call her and get a straight answer. Or at least freak her out a little."

He dialed her number and dutifully watched the screen, waiting for her to pick up.

XXX

Meanwhile, Misty and the two older children were at the party supply store, picking out decorations for Ash's surprise party. As soon as Misty's poke gear started ringing, she knew exactly who it was, and her heart shot up into her throat.

"You two keep looking, okay?" Misty told the twins, trying to reach for her poke gear as discreetly as possible. "I'll be right back!"

"Where are you going?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.

"I just wanted to take a look at something in the next aisle," Misty quickly replied. "I can trust you both to stay together, right?"

Aiden and Michelle wordlessly nodded their heads, watching as their mother scurried off to the next aisle. Once she was away from the twins, Misty answered the incoming call, keeping her voice as level as possible.

"Hey, Ash!" She greeted smoothly.

"Hey," Ash replied from the other end. "Where are you, Aiden, and Michelle? I just woke up from a nap and you guys were gone."

"Oh yeah, you were asleep when we left," Misty continued. "We just went to visit my sisters is all."

"Your sisters?" Ash repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, no big deal," Misty breathed. "I didn't think it was worth waking you or Elizabeth up just to tell you that. We'll be back in a little while!"

"Why'd you go to visit your sisters?" Ash questioned. "Did they need something from you?"

Misty's eye twitched. She was really hoping Ash was just going to drop it after hearing that! "No, we just wanted to drop by."

"Really?" Ash prodded. "Even Aiden?"

"Yes, even Aiden," Misty grumbled. "He's becoming a very considerate young man! You should be proud of him!"

"I'm always proud of him," Ash chuckled. "But when did he start wanting to actually visit his aunts? In the past hour I was asleep?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions?" Misty pressed, trying to turn the heat around on her husband instead of her.

"I just wanted to know where you guys were, that's all," Ash assured her.

"It sounds like you're being nosy," Misty scolded.

"Me? Nosy?" Ash gasped. "Never!"

Misty groaned and rolled her eyes. "Listen, I have to go. Daisy needs help with something in the living room."

"Something, huh?" Ash teased. "Would that something have to do with my birthday by any chance?"

Misty swore a vein was about to pop out of her forehead. "No! It doesn't! Keep your attention on Elizabeth. See you later."

And before Ash could say anything else, she disconnected the call. Misty sighed heavily and lowered her arms to her sides, trying to get her thoughts back in order.

"What did Dad want?"

Misty jumped and whipped around, finding Aiden and Michelle standing just inches away from her.

"Guys, don't do that!" Misty whined.

"Is he onto us?" Michelle questioned, ignoring her mother's complaint.

"Like a Shellder on a Slowpoke's tail," Misty grumbled.

"Did you tell him we were with Aunt Daisy, Aunt Violet, and Aunt Lily?" Aiden asked.

"I did," Misty confirmed.

"And he was still asking questions?!" Aiden exclaimed. "Wow, Dad is even nosier than me!"

Misty smirked at her son's comment. "It'll be fine. We just have to make sure that when we get back home, we're all cool, calm, and collected."

"And we have to hide all the stuff we buy," Michelle added.

"Yes, that too," Misty sighed.

XXX

Back at home, Ash stared at his poke gear with a bemused expression.

"You sneaky little thing," Ash muttered.

"Wha?"

Ash glanced up and realized Elizabeth was staring at him, looking rather confused. He chuckled and gently cupped the girl's cheek, much to her delight.

"Not you, sweetie," Ash crooned. "You're Daddy's baby! You're a very good little girl."

Elizabeth smiled and sprawled herself out on the floor, reaching up to grab onto her father's finger the same way she had as a baby. Ash laughed and lowered his hand, making it easier for Elizabeth to hold onto him. His other hand, which held his poke gear, he moved into his pocket in order to stash away the device.

"Whatever, I don't have to ask any other questions," Ash murmured. "I know that whole story about visiting her sisters was a total cover up. Wonder what they're out getting for my birthday, though…"


Ash knows when it's important to really pay attention ;)