Happy Father's Day, everyone! I always love coming up with special one shots for Mother's Day and Father's Day; it's the perfect opportunity to really get into the relationship Ash and Misty each have with their kids!

This one was especially fun to write because I included some parallels to the Mother's Day one shot I wrote last month. Enjoy!

Aiden and Michelle: 8

Elizabeth: 2


Father's Day Photo Finish

"Okay guys, what do we want to get Daddy for Father's Day?"

Misty's question fell on deaf ears; Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth were all busy swinging colorful foam pool noodles at one another. Sighing, she reached out and grabbed the toys, earning displeased whines and protests from her children.

"These are for the pool, not the lobby," Misty scolded, jerking her head towards the hallway that led to the gym pool. The family was currently standing in the middle of the lobby, having just returned from an outing to the local pool store to pick up supplies (and, inexplicably, three silly pool toys). "We're going to put them in there for later. Now, let's talk about Daddy's gift."

"Squ-itle!" Elizabeth cried.

"He already has a Squirtle," Aiden grumbled, furrowing his brow.

"Oh," Elizabeth squeaked, tilting her head before beaming and shrieking, "Buba-sauw!"

"He's got a Bulbasaur too," Aiden sighed, smacking a hand against his face.

Michelle chose to ignore her brother and sister while she wracked her brain for her own unique idea. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she cried, "oh, I know! Let's take a picture of all of Daddy's Pokémon and put it in a nice frame! Then he can have it in his office and see all his Pokémon all the time, even if he doesn't have all of them with him!"

A smile graced Misty's lips. "What a great idea, Shelly!"

Elizabeth, on the other hand, started to pout. "I wanna be in it."

"You know, we could take a picture with all of the Pokémon and you three too," Misty mused. "I think a big photo of you guys with all of Daddy's Pokémon would really make him happy!"

"You think so?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," Misty giggled. "He loves his Pokémon, and he loves the three of you. A picture like that would probably warm his heart!"

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. "No, Mommy! Don't huwt Daddy!"

"I don't mean literally, silly girl," Misty laughed, shaking her head. "It's just an expression!"

"A us-pression?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Yes, that's just something people say sometimes," Misty added. "You don't have to worry about Daddy!"

"Hey, Misty!"

The gym leader's eyes widened as she jumped a bit, which her children noticed. "But apparently I do. Here, can you guys take these to the battle area?"

She held the foam noodles out towards them, causing the children to nod as they took them back from her.

"Don't start swinging them at each other again," Misty calmly warned. "And make sure to keep your little sister away from the pool!"

The young trio disappeared from sight as soon as Ash appeared, his sights set solely on Misty.

"What's up?" Misty asked. "I thought you and Tracey were working on that thing for Daisy."

"We were, but then I heard you and the kids come back," Ash replied, a big smile on his face as he looked around the room. "Where are they?"

"Putting away the pool toys they somehow convinced me to buy them," Misty sighed.

"Yeah, they're really good at that," Ash chuckled. "Well, while they're not here, I can do this!"

He took a long stride forward and gave Misty quite the passionate kiss. While she was taken off guard at first, she eventually melted into it, and once he pulled away, quipped, "you do that in front of the kids all the time."

"Not like that!" Ash stressed. "And even if I kiss you on the cheek, they start making faces and telling us we're gross."

"Because that's what kids do," Misty giggled. "They don't want to see their parents kiss!"

"Speaking of parents…are we going to do anything fun for Father's Day?" Ash asked slyly.

"You are so impatient!" Misty scolded. "Why don't you just wait and see?"

"Because I'm impatient," Ash deadpanned. "You just said it yourself, Mist!"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you anything," Misty rebuffed, gently swatting at her husband's chest. "Those three little angels of ours would absolutely kill me."

"Ah, so there's something!" Ash cheered.

"Of course there is; those kids adore you," Misty grumbled. "They would never let Father's Day go by without some kind of surprise. But I'm not going to give it away!"

"Alright, fine, I won't ask any more questions," Ash sighed. "But I do want to see the kids before I get back to work. You said they were by the pool?"

"I did," Misty confirmed, nodding her head.

"Okay," Ash replied nonchalantly. "Let's go see 'em!"

Without any other warning, Ash grabbed Misty and lifted her off the ground, causing her to shriek with surprise.

"Put me down!" She demanded, dissolving into giggles.

"Can't; we have to go see those three little angels!" Ash laughed, carrying her towards the battle area as her flailing halted and the smile on her face widened.

XXX

"Thanks for agreeing to take this picture so last minute, Todd."

The brunet photographer looked up from the tripod he'd been assembling and smiled. "Don't mention it, Misty! You know I'm always happy to photograph for you guys; especially when it involves those adorable kids and Pokémon! Was this gift for Ash your idea?"

"I'd love to take credit, but it was all Michelle," Misty replied, nodding towards her older daughter. The girl was currently busy re-arranging some of the Pokémon; guiding Quilava to the other side of Totodile before grinning and nodding her head. "She's very sweet, and very creative. It never takes her long to figure out the perfect gift for someone!"

"That's precious!" Todd cooed. "You and Ash must be very proud of her."

"We sure are," Misty agreed. "Although Ash would scream it from a rooftop if you let him. He would about all three of them. He's got to be the proudest father I've ever met in my life."

"You don't think that's adorable?" Todd asked, sounding almost disappointed.

"Oh no, it's the sweetest thing ever," Misty refuted with a laugh. "I would never change that about him."

"Good, because I was going to say that's so cute it actually hurts," Todd chuckled, turning back towards his tripod. "The camera should be all set up soon!"

"Take your time!" Misty assured the photographer. "I don't want to rush you."

"Mommy!"

Misty looked over her shoulder and saw Elizabeth running over to her. "What is it, baby?"

"Donphy and Leavy are pwaying!" Elizabeth squealed. "They pwayed wif me too, Mommy. They…they giveded me a leaf."

"A leaf?" Misty asked with a giggle, leading Elizabeth to nod her head. "Where is the leaf? I don't see it!"

"I giveded it to Ta-tewwa," Elizabeth replied.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you!" Misty crooned. "Sharing feels good, doesn't it?"

Elizabeth beamed and nodded her head.

"Are you ready to take the picture for Daddy?" Misty asked.

Elizabeth nodded again. "I -ove my dwess, Mommy!"

Misty giggled as Elizabeth twisted around, the skirt of her floral printed dress flaring out around her. "It's very pretty; just like you! Are your big brother and sister ready to take the picture, you think?"

"I dunno," Elizabeth murmured, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, let's go see!" Misty decided, motioning towards the group behind them. Elizabeth laughed and spun around, running back towards them with her mother following closely behind.

Michelle was still busy arranging the Pokémon, while Aiden was sitting beneath a large tree nearby with Sceptile, who had his usual twig sticking out of his mouth.

"What are you two doing here?" Misty asked, sounding quite amused.

"I was trying to play with the Pokémon, but Michelle got all mad about it," Aiden scoffed, obviously annoyed. "She said I was going to get all dirty and ruin the picture. But I just wanted to have fun! Right, Sceptile?"

The forest Pokémon, who appeared to be half asleep, said nothing.

"I understand," Misty replied, smirking at Sceptile before turning her attention back onto her son. "But Michelle is only trying to make sure Daddy's picture comes out just right. You know she likes things to be perfect! As soon as we're done, you can play with the Pokémon. I promise."

"Can you make her go faster?" Aiden whined, pointing at his twin. "She's been moving everyone around forever!"

"I'll go ask," Misty assured him.

She approached her older daughter, who was, as Aiden had complained, still hard at work. Elizabeth had rejoined the Pokémon previously and was now messing around with Corphish, who she had a bit of a unique relationship with; the two were generally thick as thieves and loved getting into mischief together, but they also had a habit of getting on one another's nerves and picking fights with each other.

"How's it going?" Misty conversationally asked the girl.

"Okay," Michelle sighed, indicating it wasn't really. "I feel like I can't get everyone in the right spot!"

"It looks good to me," Misty murmured, surveying the group in front of her.

"Yeah, but good's not perfect," Michelle complained.

"Not everything has to be perfect, Shelly," Misty giggled. "You know Daddy is going to love this no matter what!"

Michelle was about to argue but was cut off by a high-pitched shriek. Whipping her head around, her eyes widened when she realized what was going on; the front of Elizabeth's dress was now covered in dirt, a nervous looking Corphish standing beside her.

"Phishy!" Elizabeth stormed, stomping her feet. "You gotted me diwty!"

"Corphish! Cor!" The ruffian Pokémon fussed.

"Why were Elizabeth and Corphish together?!" Michelle cried. "I would've never put them together; they fight too much!"

"Something tells me they buddied up while you were busy with the other Pokémon," Misty mused, wincing. She knew how things typically got when Elizabeth and Corphish began butting heads, and it wasn't good.

"Now Elizabeth's got a dirty dress on," Michelle grumbled, her aggravation increasing. "And you're gonna see it in the picture, and it's gonna look horrible!"

"It'll be fine!" Misty tried to comfort her daughter. "Your little sister is only two, it's normal for her to be a bit messy."

"No, it isn't!" Michelle cried. "Elizabeth is never messy! Maybe other kids her age are, but Elizabeth isn't! And Daddy knows that!"

"Michelle, I know that this is important to you and you want everything to be perfect, but we can't always have that, especially when our family is involved," Misty sighed. "If you haven't noticed by now, we tend to be a bit unorganized."

"Not me!" Michelle wailed.

While Michelle was fussing to her mother, Elizabeth, who was still seething, bent down and gathered up dirt and grass into her little fists.

"I'm gonna get you, Phishy!" Elizabeth cried, holding her hands above her head.

Corphish cried out in alarm and scuttled away from the toddler, who growled and started chasing after the water type.

"Elizabeth, no!" Misty scolded, taking off towards her younger daughter. Michelle, in turn, buried her face in her hands and groaned. All the ruckus, meanwhile, had finally garnered Aiden's attention and coaxed him out from beneath the tree. When he saw Corphish running from Elizabeth, and Misty chasing after the both of them, he blinked and turned towards Michelle.

"What'd I miss?" He asked.

"Corphish and Elizabeth got into it and I'm pretty sure Corphish threw dirt on Elizabeth's dress," Michelle grumbled. "So now Elizabeth is chasing Corphish with her own fistfuls of dirt."

Aiden watched the chase for another few moments before bursting out into laughter, much to Michelle's annoyance. "What's so funny?!"

Aiden snickered before commenting, "and you were worried about me getting my clothes dirty playing with the Pokémon."

XXX

When Father's Day rolled around, and his children presented him with his gift, Ash couldn't understand for the life of him why Michelle looked borderline traumatized.

"Uh…everything okay, Shelly?" Ash asked sweetly.

Michelle only responded with an unsure noise. Misty sighed and shook her head, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"She's fine," Misty assured him. "Open your gift!"

Ash was not convinced, but he figured he could deal with it on his own after he'd opened the present. Michelle tended to open up to him when no one else was around, so he figured it was just one of those instances. When he unwrapped the gift, he was greeted with a framed photo of all his Pokémon at Professor Oak's ranch along with Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth. As he examined the photo, his face lit up, and a huge smile overtook his face.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Ash marveled. "Look how cute you guys look! And you really managed to get all the Pokémon in here! Even Pikachu!"

"Chu!" The mouse squeaked.

"I was wondering why Misty needed to borrow you so bad," Ash chuckled. "Now I know why!"

"Dad, did you see the best part of the picture?!" Aiden exclaimed.

Michelle suddenly sprung to life, leaning forward. "Aiden, quit it!"

"What's the best part?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.

"Look at Lizzie's dress!" Aiden laughed, pointing at the little girl. "And Corphish right next to her!"

Ash took a closer look and furrowed his brow. "Are they both…covered in dirt?"

"Yep!" Aiden crowed.

"Phishy stawted it!" Elizabeth cried.

Michelle cringed, but relaxed when her father started laughing. "You and Corphish were being naughty again, huh?"

"Ya," Elizabeth replied, nodding her head.

"How come you two like to argue so much?" Ash asked, his voice quite teasing.

"I dunno!" Elizabeth whined. "Phishy and I awe fwiends!"

"Yeah, but you guys fight sometimes, right?" Ash chuckled.

Elizabeth pursed her lips and nodded again, this time more sheepishly.

"Well, you both look happy here, so I guess you weren't too mad at each other!" Ash noted.

"Michelle was upset because she thought the picture wasn't perfect," Misty explained, causing the younger girl to blush. "You should've seen how long she spent arranging all of the Pokémon and making everything just right!"

"But then Corphish and Elizabeth fought and messed it all up," Michelle grumbled.

"No way, I think it's perfect just like this!" Ash refuted.

"Really?" Michelle questioned, not sounding convinced.

Ash grinned and nodded his head. "I really like that that's in the picture! It reminds me of all the fun we've had with my Pokémon. You guys know how much I love it that you all have a great time together!"

"I guess…" Michelle murmured.

"Besides, we're not perfect," Ash continued. "I know that stuff like that bothers you, Shelly, but it's okay that we're not! I don't really think anybody is perfect. But you guys and your mom come pretty close!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Misty cooed, now blushing a bit herself.

Ash placed the photo down by his side and, with his arms free, gathered the rest of the family together. "I can tell you guys put a lot of thought into that gift, and it means a lot to me. I'm so lucky I have all of you!"

Elizabeth, who adored all kinds of attention but especially from her father, giggled wildly as she wrapped her arms around Ash's neck. Aiden, who had become less enamored with affection as he'd gotten older, grunted a bit, but otherwise didn't struggle against his father and gave him an endearing sideways smile. Michelle, who had finally accepted that her father truly loved the gift and was extremely happy, hugged his side and rested her head against his chest.

Misty, meanwhile, gave Ash a kiss on the temple, causing him to look up and smile at her.

"You're pretty close to perfect too, you know," Misty quipped.

Ash chuckled sheepishly. "I don't know about that, Mist."

"That's okay, I do," Misty replied with a loving smirk.