It's Mother's Day! Which means a story for the day, of course. The question of the day: what would Ash do if he was left to his own devices to plan a fun Mother's Day for Misty?

Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old


The Perfect Mother's Day

"What's your idea of a perfect Mother's Day?"

"Some peace and quiet."

"Come on, Mist, I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

Ash scowled at his wife, who was simply smirking back at him. "No one wants that on a holiday."

"I do," she replied calmly. "I never get any downtime! Between the gym, the house, and the twins, it's like I'm permanently on 'go' mode."

Ash, however, was not placated by her explanation. "You can't celebrate Mother's Day by doing nothing. That's no fun! I want to plan something for you that's fun, but still relaxing."

"You and I have very different ideas of fun," Misty reminded her husband.

"Well this time I'll think like you."

"If you were thinking like me, you'd be wishing for some peace and quiet too," Misty quipped.

They were sitting on the living room couch with Aiden, Michelle, Pikachu, and Vaporeon playing by their feet. The twins were still little, so they paid no mind to their parents' seemingly boring conversation. The Pokémon didn't care much either, as they were too focused on playing with the toddlers and keeping them entertained. At the moment, Aiden and Michelle were busying themselves with building a small tower of blocks, which Pikachu or Vaporeon would promptly knock down, eliciting enamored laughter from the young children.

"We could go out to eat," Ash thought aloud, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. "Do you prefer brunch or dinner?"

"With the twins? Neither," Misty replied shortly.

"Seriously?" Ash groaned.

"They're not always on their best behavior in restaurants," Misty reminded him. "I really only like to take them out when we absolutely have to."

"Okay…" Ash droned. "What about…bowling?"

"Bowling?" Misty repeated. "Are you planning a kid's birthday party?"

"You're making this so hard," Ash whined.

Misty giggled softly, but then added sincerely, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so difficult. I'm just not used to putting myself first anymore, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," Ash relented.

"So why don't you just surprise me?" Misty suggested, leading Ash to raise an eyebrow in interest. "I trust you."

"You shooting down my last two suggestions says otherwise," Ash joked.

"Alright, I won't do that this time!" Misty cried. "I promise!"

Ash smirked and slowly nodded his head. "Alright, then. I'll come up with something great!"

XXX

"I need help coming up with something great."

Brock, who had met up with Ash at the training fields at Indigo Plateau for some practice battling, seemed taken off guard by the plea. "Ash, you know you're my best friend, and I'd do anything to help you, but why wouldn't you go to someone like your mom and ask her about this?"

"Because we didn't celebrate Mother's Day full out when I was growing up," Ash sighed. "I would draw her a picture or get her a little gift with my allowance, and we'd either have a nice dinner at home or sometimes go out to a decent restaurant if we could afford it at the time."

"That makes sense," Brock hummed, "but still, why me? I'm not necessarily an expert at Mother's Day celebrations."

"No, but you are an expert with women!" Ash crowed. When Brock shot him a disbelieving look, Ash replied, "Well, you're better than I am."

"That's not saying much," Brock grumbled. "Besides, you're very good with Misty! She's the only woman you don't need any help with, and the only woman you actually need to impress."

"I guess, but this is different," Ash continued. "The twins are getting older now, and they're starting to understand this kind of stuff. They're always picking things out to bring back to Misty as gifts. Seriously, anything. Aiden brought her back a little rock the other day. It was super cute. And Misty loved it! So I want to do something that involves them, because it's Mother's Day after all…we wouldn't even be celebrating it if it wasn't for them."

Brock's face slowly changed as realization hit him. "Wait…that's perfect!"

Ash twisted his mouth. "What's perfect?"

"I shouldn't be the one helping you out with this," Brock declared. "Aiden and Michelle should."

Now it was Ash's turn to be taken off guard. "I know I said I wanted to involve them, but I don't know about planning a whole day, Brocko. They're still only two years old."

"Yeah, but you said it yourself," Brock continued. "Misty is thrilled with whatever they do for her, because they're so young and sweet and innocent. If they decide to give her something, or plan something for her, she'll love it no matter what because it was their idea."

Ash's face became thoughtful. "That's actually not bad."

Brock smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I do what I can."

XXX

As soon as the twins started to get a little too loud, Ash gently shushed them.

"We don't want Mommy to hear us! This is a surprise, right?"

The young children were transfixed by their father's whispered voice, but soon broke back out into big smiles and nodded their heads. Both were holding a bouquet of bright red flowers in their little arms.

Ash had taken Brock's direction and asked the twins what they wanted to do for Misty for Mother's Day. He swore he'd never seen the kids' eyes light up the way they had when he posed that question…and that was saying something, considering they were two years old and got insanely excited over some of the most basic things.

"Let's go in nice and quiet, okay?" Ash asked, nodding towards the door beside him.

Once again, the twins nodded.

Ash opened the door, slowly and carefully, and motioned for the twins to go inside. Aiden and Michelle padded in lightly, just as their father had suggested. Ash watched diligently, quietly following after the two. Misty was still fast asleep, as was Pikachu on Ash's pillow and Vaporeon at the end of the bed.

Knowing the twins wouldn't be able to get up on their own, Ash lifted them both up and placed them on the bed. Aiden and Michelle set the flowers down so they could crawl over to their mother and gently shake her awake (they had wanted to jump on her, but Ash advised a nicer way since it was Mother's Day after all). It didn't take them too long, since Misty was now conditioned to awake to any unusual sounds or movements. As soon as she saw the two toddlers hovering over her, she smiled and rolled onto her back, stretching her arms over her head.

"Good morning, you two," she crooned.

Aiden and Michelle just giggled in response. Misty appeared somewhat confused, although the smile remained on her face. Silence hung in the air until Ash cleared his throat, gaining Misty's attention. The twins, on the other hand, were still grinning goofily at her.

"Aiden, Michelle, what do you want to say to Mommy?" Ash prodded.

"-appy Mofer's Day!" Aiden exclaimed, his face managing to light up even more.

"Happy Mommy Day," Michelle recited almost robotically, although she was still smiling from ear-to-ear.

"Aw, how sweet!" Misty giggled, finally sitting up and pulling her young children into a hug. "I sure am the luckiest Mommy in the whole wide world!"

"All they've done so far is wish you a Happy Mother's Day," Ash chuckled.

"Yeah, but they're the cutest babies ever, so I'm still the luckiest," Misty pointed out, winking at him. She turned pensive for a moment, however, before asking, "Wait, what do you mean 'so far'?"

Ash was about to answer, but got cut off by Aiden as he cried, "Mommy, we got you pwesents!"

"You did?" Misty gasped.

Aiden pointed towards the flowers by her feet. Misty reached over and picked up the bouquets, examining them in her hands. "Oh, these are so pretty!"

"Aiden and Michelle both wanted to get you flowers," Ash explained. "We went to Grammy to find the best ones, right?"

"Ya!" Aiden and Michelle chirped.

"She told us that these are the most popular flowers to give on Mother's Day," Ash continued. "They're…uh…"

Misty blinked as Ash struggled to come up with the right name. Finally giving up, Ash reached for his phone and turned on the screen, pressing a few icons before reciting, "Red carnations! They stand for 'a mother's purity, sweetness, and endurance' apparently."

"Well I love them!" Misty crowed. "Thanks, you guys!"

All of the commotion finally awoke Pikachu and Vaporeon, who were both groggy and confused. They both began to mumble and stretch out, distracting Aiden and Michelle and drawing them away from their mother.

"And that's that," Misty sighed through a smirk.

"Not quite," Ash replied, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. "Don't you remember I said this was all they did so far?"

"Oh yeah," Misty murmured. "What did you mean by that?"

"I had a hard time coming up with something great for Mother's Day," Ash admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "So I went to Brock and he gave me the idea to have Aiden and Michelle come up with the plans. After all, nobody knows fun better than a couple of two year olds! Plus, I thought it'd be sweet if everything we did today kind of came from them."

"That's super cute!" Misty giggled. "What did they come up with?"

"They wanted to go to the park, and then have lunch and ice cream, go swimming in the gym pool with the Pokémon, and then they wanted to visit my mom and have dinner with her," Ash recited.

"All of that actually sounds really nice," Misty commented, her smile widening.

"Really?" Ash asked. "Even though it's not the peace and quiet you wanted?"

"I think that was probably too unrealistic of a request," Misty mused playfully. "Besides, it is Mother's Day. I should be spending time with my children! I wouldn't really be celebrating this holiday if it weren't for them."

"That sure is smart," Ash remarked.

"Thanks," Misty chirped, her eyes sparkling with mischievousness. "Besides, this could be relaxing! As long as you're the one chasing after them at the park instead of me."

Ash twisted his mouth, but finally chuckled and relented, "sure, I can do that."