I’ll Be Home For Christmas- The Extended Version

Part 3

By Finaille Nailo

Misty is sitting on her bed, looking at the picture of Ash… again. Why did we have to get into that fight? If I could only remember what I told him…Misty sighs. Ten years ago tonight… it changed my life forever… She is interrupted from her thoughts when her computer makes a beeping noise.

"Gah, who could be emailing me now?" She mumbles to herself. She climbs off of her bed, and walks to her computer. She sits down, and starts typing furiously, fingers flying everywhere. She starts to check her email, starting from the older emails first. She then reaches the top email, the one she just received, with the subject…

Misty’s eyebrows raise in surprise. She clicks on the email. She gasps, for this is what it read.

And that’s all it said.

She blinked, rereading the message over and over again. She printed it off, and then Misty ran downstairs as fast as she could, to find Brock on the living room couch, reading a book.

"Brock! Oh my gosh, the weirdest thing happened!!" Misty says excitedly, sitting next to Brock on the couch.

"Slow down Misty… what happened?" Brock asks curiously. Misty takes a second to catch her breath.

"Someone sent me an email… it was so weird…" She says, while catching her breath.

"What’s so weird about getting an email?" Brock asks sarcastically. Misty cocks an eyebrow at him. Brock grins. "Ok, what was in the email?"

"Here…" She says, handing him the printed copy. Brock looks at it for a moment, also rereading it many times.

"You’re right, this is weird…" He says, looking up at her and handing the sheet back to her.

"You wouldn’t suppose… would you?" Misty says, looking happy and sad at the same time.

"You mean, Ash?" Brock asks. Misty nods. Brock smiles to himself and puts a hand on her shoulder. Misty looks up at Brock. "Misty, it’s not gonna be Ash. I mean, how would he know your email?"

Misty looks down again in thought. "Yeah, I guess you’re right." She looks up with tears in her eyes.

"Misty, girl, don’t cry. I bet someday you’ll see Ash again." Brock says, trying to calm Misty down. Unfortunately, Brock said the possibly worst thing to say. Misty starts sobbing as Brock wraps his arms around Misty.

"I’ll never get to see Ash…" Misty says in between hiccups.

"Misty, it’s ok…" Brock says reassuringly.

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Ash is sitting on his bed, looking at pictures from when he was younger. All of them had him and Misty in the pictures. He was gazing at the one of him and her and the Kimono Festival. I wonder if Misty got the locket…

"Ash!!!" Duplica yells, marching into his room. "Just got a reply that she saw the email."

He shoves the pictures in a nearby drawer. "She did? Great! So… now what?" Ash asks.

"Well, I dunno…" Duplica mumbles. They sit on his bed for nearly a half-hour, and finally come up with something.

"How bout’ a phone call?" Ash asks. Duplica smacks herself in the head.

"And you couldn’t have come up with it earlier?" Duplica asks in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, at least I came up with it." Ash says with a smug grin.

"What do you mean by that?" Duplica asks.

"You never thought of it." Ash gets a pillow thrown at him for that comment.

"Shut up."

Ash smirks at her. "Hey, I was only telling the truth. Now do you suggest I should make the phone call?"

"I think you should wait until this evening. After that, it’s to Cerulean City!" Duplica says, standing on his bed and raising a fist in the air.

"Cer… Cerulean? Why would be go there?"

"Duh, the Christmas Requests? Plus… you’re gonna get her tonight!" Duplica shrieks.

"Um… get her?" Ash asks in confusion.

"I know how you feel, and she likes you too. Ash…" Duplica sits down next to him, "… you’ve got to tell her tonight. IN PERSON!"

"I uh… do?!" Ash asks in surprise.

"YES! You’ve waited too long… plus you blew it last night." Duplica says with a grin.

"I suppose you’re gonna force me to do this." Ash asks her. Duplica smiles.

"Well, I’m gonna try and get Brock tonight… you might as well try and get Misty." Duplica says, cracking her knuckles.

"That makes sense… WAIT A MINUTE!!! You’re gonna get… BROCK?!" Ash screams.

"Well yeah… I’ve always had a… little thing for him." Duplica says shyly. Ash rolls his eyes.

"You’re like, the one girl besides Misty whom he’s not had a thing for…" Ash reminds her.

"Yeah, so?" She stands up straight. "I’m a big girl now."

Ash laughs. "Sure… you totally are." He looks at her for a moment and grins. "Anyways, you’re not supposed to be in MY room… invading my privacy." He says, with his bottom lip protruded.

"Fine… kick me out… and I come up with all the ideas." Duplica pouts as she walks to the door.

"Don’t pout, I came up with the idea." Ash says with another smug grin. "See ya in a few hours." Duplica leaves his room. He goes over to the drawer, and takes out the pictures of Misty. He places them on his bed, and takes his favorite one from the pile, a cute picture at Halloween. Misty was a sexy Horsea, and Ash was a vampire. Our first kiss… I wonder if this plan is actually gonna work…Ash yawns and closes his eyes.

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Brock and Misty are sitting in Misty’s room, looking at old pictures.

"Hey, this is the one right before you ran away!" Brock exclaims, holding up a picture.

"Really? Let me see it!" Misty demands, snatching the picture from Brock’s grip. Misty sighs and frowns as she looks at the picture. Halloween… it was our first kiss… well, only on the cheek, but still, he kissed me. He was so cute in that vampire costume… and he told me that I was the cutest Horsea he had ever seen. Misty smiles. Brock looks up at Misty and smiles.

"Feeling better?" Brock asks. Misty nods.

"Much better, thank you." Misty says nicely. Brock gets up from her bed.

"Why don’t I bring up some tea?" Brock suggests.

"That would be nice."

"Don’t forget about the Christmas Movie Marathon tonight." Brock reminds her as he leaves her room. Misty snorts.

"Trust me, I can’t forget… not with you around." After Brock leaves, Misty looks around the room. I can’t tell Brock how much I miss Ash… he’ll just make things worse. I want to see Ash again… so badly. A tear forms, and Misty lies her head on a pillow. Someday I’ll see him… she closes her eyes.

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(Regular italics are Misty’s thoughts; Bold italics are Ash’s thoughts)

Man… where am I? I feel like I’ve been sleeping on a sharp rock… Misty rubs her eyes as she regains consciousness.

"Misty? Hullo?" She hears a voice say, and feels a poke in her side.

"Huh? Where am I?" She asks sleepily, opening her eyes to see Ash at her side.

"Duh! It’s Christmas Eve and we’re camping in the middle of nowhere." Ash says. Misty looks down at her body, to find the same old clothes she always used to wear when she was younger. No way… I’m back… it’s ten years in the past.

"Sorry… I coulda sworn this was a dream…" Misty says with a sigh. She looks up at Ash and smiles. "It made absolutely no sense."

"Dreams aren’t supposed to make sense." Ash says with a smile. This is too familiar… Misty looks up at him. There are a few moments of silence.

"Ash?"

"Yes?"

"Is it me, or is this moment awkwardly familiar?" Misty asks.

"Yeah, it is… it seems like it’s happened before." Ash replies.

It has to be the moment of the fight.

"Ash, remember the fight we had?"

"Yeah, the fight we had ten years ago?" Ash asks. Misty nods.

"That’s the one."

"Misty… I didn’t mean to start that fight." Ash says sincerely.

"I didn’t mean for it to happen." Misty says quietly. They stand there silently for a moment. At the same time, they both run up to each other in a loving embrace.

"Misty…" Ash says, stroking her hair, "I’m so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?" Tears leak out of Misty’s eyes.

"Yes! I forgive you… I don’t know what I’d do without you." Misty says innocently. They both look into each other’s eyes.

Kiss him…

They both lean forward and kiss…

In the distance, two screams are heard.

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"Misty!!" A voice yells, following the sound of shattering glass. Misty slowly wakes up from her bed, to find Brock running into her room. "Misty, are you ok?" He yells as he goes up to her bed.

"Yeah… I just had a bad dream…" Misty says groggily. Brock puts his hand on her forehead.

"You scared the hell outta me… are you ok? No fever…" Brock says worriedly. Misty grins.

"Brock, I’m fine… I had a really weird dream." She tells him. He sits on the bed, next to her.

"Really? What was it about?"

"Ash and I… we were back at the same place before our fight ten years ago. It was so real… it was like, he was having the exact same dream." Misty says quietly. Brock smiles.

"Just remember, it was just a dream." Brock says. As he’s saying this, the phone rings. "I wonder who could be calling at 4pm on Christmas Eve?" He goes over to Misty’s phone.

"Hello? … Oh yes, she’s here." He looks up at Misty. "It’s for you."

"Who is it?"

Brock grins. "Didn’t say. Just take it!" Misty grabs the phone from Brock.

"Hello?" There’s a moment of silence…

"I’ll be home for Christmas…" She hears a click, and a dial tone.

"Who was that?" Brock asks. Misty shrugs, hangs the phone up, and walks into the other room.

That voice… it was almost the same as Ash’s… from the dream. It couldn’t be, could it? Misty falls on her knees. I hope… She breaks down crying before she could finish her thought.

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Ash reaches over to hang up the phone. I’m so nervous… in just a few hours I’m going to see Misty again…

"Ready to go, Ash?" Duplica asks, grabbing her purse off of the table.

"Yeah, I’m ready."

Duplica grins and stands on the chair. "Tonight, we’re getting our soul mates… Ash?" She looks around the room to see Ash gone. All of a sudden, Ash pushes her off the chair.

"Enough with the act…" Ash says with a grin, "… let’s go!"

A/N- I hope you liked! R&R!!!