A/N: Yes! It's the epilogue! The end of it all! Anyway, there's no Drew in this part, so May's POV will be in my usual font: arial. Yes, it's rather short.

Disclaimer: Nobody actually thinks I own Pokemon, do they? No, I thought not. So what's the point of a disclaimer?

~ ~ ~

The world won't turn until something breaks
And who will make the first 'last' mistake?
They say that good things come to those who wait
- Ben Folds

Losing Grip
epilogue

"So May, what was going on with Drew?" asked Brock curiously. "Everybody except me seemed to be in on the whole thing. There was some kind of fight...?"

May and Max exchanged glances and hid smiles. Ash attempted to explain, "Er, well, you see, Drew kind of yelled a bit, and May was a little oversensitive..."

"Pipika!" laughed Pikachu, digging its tiny claws into his shoulder.

"You're not being dramatic enough," said May. "I mean, if it could take up six chapters, it was obviously a little more significant than that."

The fresh morning sunlight poured down through the clouds, picking out the features of her smiling face; her sky-blue eyes, her fair skin. They were walking down a grassy trail, Pokémon chirruping out of the trees and bushes around them.

"But really, how did that whole drama end, May?" asked Ash. "You got back to the Pokémon Centre all sunny and happy all of a sudden, what was up with that?"

"Yeah, did it resolve itself?" asked Max, grinning.

"Oh..." May smiled enigmatically, and twisted her bandana. "No, it didn't." And with a laugh, she let herself go and ran off down the track, her arms flailing like a windmill, her hair blowing in the wind, leaving Ash and the others to run after her, confused and yelling out for better explanations.

She flopped down in the grass after a while and lay heaving with laughter while her brother and her friends called out her name, walking around in the opposite direction. She rolled over so she was on her side and inhaled the sweet, moist smell of the dewy morning grass and remembered the last evening. Drew had smiled and suddenly it was all over, and May knew it was okay. And that night was the last time she'd seen him, bedraggled and sheepish, not himself at all, and he had forgotten to give her a rose. But he'd given her something much more special.

She closed her eyes and remembered the moment, a small smile on her lips.

"There you are!"

May didn't open her eyes; she barely even heard Ash's exclamation. She just took a deep breath, drawing in all the beauty of her surroundings without even seeing them. Amazing how she could do that now.

"Well, are we going?"

May finally opened her eyes and smiled absently at Ash, fiddling with a lock of hair, still lying in the damp grass. "What's the rush?" she asked. "Just enjoy it."

"What's - what's the -" Ash mouthed at her in disbelief, but her eyes were closed again. "What's the rush?! I don't know what Drew did to you last night, but when I get my hands on that big green head of his - what's the rush?! Only my next gym battle, May!"

May wasn't listening; she was replaying the previous night in her head again. Why couldn't these things last forever?

"Come on May, we can't rest now!"

"Aww, leave her alone, Ash," said Max lazily, watching a butterfly flit between flowers, its delicate wings fluttering gently. "Last night was a very important night for her."

"Well, that aside, I have a gym battle to fight! I don't want to be -" Ash was cut short by the look on Brock's face.

"I don't expect you to understand these things, Ash," he said with a grin. "But it's my area of expertise. Just leave her be."

Ash looked from face to face and then gave up with a sigh. "Well, I guess it is pretty nice around here," he said begrudgingly.

The butterfly landed on May's bandana. Its wings twitched inquisitively; its antennae searched the few square millimetres around it. May didn't notice. It flew away.

The four of them relaxed there for a while, perhaps half an hour. Then May sighed and opened her eyes. She sat up.

Ash grinned. "I was starting to think you'd fallen asleep. Ready to go now?"

"Yeah," she said, getting to her feet. She stretched her arms above her head. "Well, you can't expect these things to last forever," she said, more to herself than anyone else. Then she grinned. "But you can do them again. And again. And again..." And then they were off down the track again, the sun moving higher and higher overhead.