Hi! Once again sooo sorry for the wait, school has really been hard and it's barely the second week for me! Anyways, thanks for the reviews you guys! Kisses! I love you guys! Um, well I hope that you guys like this one also and it's a little longer to make up for the wait. Well enough of me and on to the story!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this every freakin time?! O well, I don't own pokemon just this fic and the short lullaby and the poem and Kaci those are mine so please don't take them. Anyways the characters from pokemon aren't mine they belong to these rich guys who won't let me take it off their hands no matter how much I beg and plead, darn it.

Chapter 3
Baby-sitting, singing, and spitting.




"Kaci, no, that's my stuff!" It had been barely half an hour since Misty and Brock had gone to the store, and Ash was beginning to understand his mistake in wanting to take care of the baby by himself... After countless times of running around and barely saving the little girl from any trouble, wether it be wild pokemon or getting too close to the lake nearby, Ash now tired, had to go and save his stuff that had once been safely confined in his backpack and now being explored by Kaci.

He picked her up and sat her down beside him while he tried to put everything back, only to catch a glimpse of her as she started to crawl away. "Hey!" he said as he caught her. He was at a complete loss as to how he was going to keep her in one place for more than a few minutes. Luckily, Suicune (who had just woken up from a well deserved nap) came over to Ash and Kaci to try and help out. He leaned his head down and slipped the necklace that the little girl was wearing out from under the collar of her shirt. There at the end was a crystal pokeball, small just like the regular ones were when the trainer wasn't using them. Ash was surprised by this, sure he had seen a gold colored pokeball that was named a G S ball, but he had never seen a crystal one before...

"Whoa," he exclaimed as he examined the pokeball closely, and pressed the button in the middle only to make it bigger, "it's completely made of crystal, and it works just like a regular pokeball." Then he looked down at Kaci, who was looking at the crystal pokeball with shining eyes, definitely happy about it. "Is this really yours?" asked Ash, then handed the pokeball to the little girl, who took it with a smile on her face.

Suicune just sat and watched his Master's daughter with knowing eyes. The little girl had always loved his pokeball, and he knew that somehow she felt a little closer to her father every time she held it. He had seen his Master show her the pokeball at night when it seemed she had trouble sleeping and would always ask him to stay by her side when she slept. Suicune was very close to the little girl, he had been there to see her as she grew right alongside her parents. That's what fueled him, that's what made him take on his Master's request without hesitation. His Master trusted him, and he cherished that thought, he was going to do everything he could to see that she was all right. He owed it to his Master and his mate.

Suicune however was broken from his thoughts. He sensed something, someone was coming. There wasn't any serious danger, they were weak, and he couldn't let just anyone see him. Assured that the young pokemon trainer (who was now back to putting his belongings in his bag) besides him could take care of them without any harm being done and without his assistance, Suicune bent down and pushed the button on the crystal ball and in a flash of light was gone from sight.

Ash turned around once he had heard the familiar sound that a pokeball made when you called or recalled your pokemon, only to see that the big blue dog like pokemon was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh," he said as he looked around, "where's Suicune?"

"Pika pi!" Ash looked over at Pikachu who was strangely pointing up towards the sky. He looked up to, and groaned...

A hot air balloon that was shaped just like a Meowth and carrying three people (well actually two people and one Meowth) was coming closer to the campsite, and as always the red headed woman was the first to go into what was now a routine.

"Prepare for trouble!" she said in which her blue haired partner in crime continued.
"And make it double!"
"To bug the twerps beyond belief!"
"To bring them nothing but sorrow and grief!"
"To protect the world from all that is good!"
"To steal your Pikachu 'cause we're in the mood!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket stealing day and night!"
"Hand over that Pikachu or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth that's right!"
"Wubaffet!" The cat like pokemon ended it just as a blue blob came out of what seemed like nowhere... "Get back in your pokeball you Wubaloser!" Jessie yelled as she held out a pokeball and the blue pokemon vanished in a flash of light.

"I thought we had left you two at Mt. Silver..." Ash muttered as he stepped in front of both Kaci and Pikachu.

His reply was an evil laugh that came from the red head in the balloon. "No matter how much you try twerp you can never get rid of us!" This was then followed by a laugh from the blue haired guy next to her. "Don't you know by now?" he said and then he and Jessie made a pose before continuing."We're the invincible Team Rocket!"

"The dim headed Team Rocket is more like it!"

"Tsk, tsk, didn't your mother ever tell you not to call people names?" asked Jessie.

"I guess we'll just have da teach him a lesson, by getting his Pikachu!" Meowth now had a control with a video game like stick on it and pressed the button that was right by it leading to the bottom of the balloon to open and a huge gloved hand to appear. It flew forward as Ash was knocked sideways and reached towards Pikachu who jumped out of the way but was right in front of Kaci and lead the hand to grab her instead...

"KACI!" Ash yelled as he saw the hand still holding on to her, luckily it looked like it wasn't putting any pressure on the little girl.

"Meowth!" James yelled as he punched the cat pokemon on the head leaving a rather large bump, "You missed!"

"Pika!" Pikachu yelled angry at Team Rocket and what they had come to done. Not only did they come here bothering them and threatening to steal him but they end up taking the little girl that he was beginning to get rather attached to. He started emitting sparks from his electric packed cheeks threateningly.

"Uh uh, Pikachu, you don't want to hurt your little friend do you" Jessi taunted as she retrieved Kaci from the hand. "We'll make a deal twerp, Pikachu for this baby - ow!" Kaci had noticed the long hair that was sticking to one side and pulled as hard as she could just wanting to see it up close. Jessi of course wasn't as happy as she was... "Let go you little-ow!"

While all three Team Rocket members tried to pry Kaci's fingers from Jessi's hair, Ash decided to act fast, there was no way he was gonna let them take Kaci or Pikachu. "Bayleaf go, use your vine whip to get that little girl!"

"Bay!" it said as it complied with it's trainer's orders and rapped it's vines around Kaci, gently as not to hurt her, and making Jessi fall backwards with both surprise and relief.

"Wa?" Meowth said as he spied for the first time the crystal ball that was hanging from Kaci's neck. He was to curious as to what it was that he hadn't heard Ash order Bayleaf to use razor leaf, and only found out to late when they were once again blasting off. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

Bayleaf set Kaci (who surprisingly looked like she had enjoyed the whole fiasco) down gently on the grass besides Pikachu. "Great work Bayleaf!" Ash said with relief in his tone, as he petted the grass pokemon on the head while she nudged him affectionally, and then returned her to her pokeball. He looked down to make sure Kaci was all right only to see her crawling off again...

"Wa!" He said as he caught up with her and picked her up then muttered, " How on earth do your parents take care of you all the time...?"

Ash tried showing Kaci the crystal pokeball again and set her down, but of course didn't take his eyes off her. It seemed like it was working just fine, that she wasn't going to crawl away again, that is until she spotted an interesting caterpie (sp?) not to far away... Since the pokeball wasn't going to do anything at the moment Ash picked her up again and then looked around trying to find something that would keep her in one place. None of the things in his backpack would make a good toy and Brock had taken his with him, then he spotted Misty's by the tree near by.

"Maybe Misty has something in there to keep you occupied." He said more to him self than to Kaci. He walked over and crouched down making a mental note to not let go of the curious little girl in his arms as he started to explore Misty's backpack with one hand. Kaci however was more interested in the tree that Ash was leaning on for support.

He looked through it and was about to give up when he caught sight of a little blue book. There was no writing on the cover, and with the curiosity to match the little girl's, he opened the cover and there was Misty's name printed on it with blue ink. "I've never seen Misty with this before..." He said and then turned the blank page unable to put the book back, and began to read the words that Misty had written.

~"Everyday being with the one I most desire."

Seeing his smile and hearing his laughter,
wishing that I'll be with him from here on after.

"Everyday ashamed of myself for being such a liar."

Not showing my feelings and letting them be,
having to deal with the pain of not letting them free.~

"Misty wrote this?" Was all Ash could think of as he got halfway into the poem that his red headed friend had wrote. He couldn't read anymore, for some reason he just didn't want to find out what was next in this poem that was obviously for someone whom Misty really liked. "Or maybe loves..." He said and then with his blood boiling he shoved the little book back into her pack. "Why on earth should I care about this, it's obviously not for me..." He muttered to himself but still couldn't help but feel a pang of something in his stomach. "I don't care..."

He couldn't help but think of why he was so angry in the first place, it was just a stupid book with some mushy love poems written by "Miss Romantic"...

A shriek woke him up from his thoughts, he looked over to Kaci and saw that she was reaching up towards something... "Huh?" He looked up into the tree and at once noticed the piercing red eyes that were now angry from having been woken up. "WA!" Ash yelled as the thing started flapping it's wings furiously, it's stingers' visible and pointed threateningly at Ash and Kaci. Ash got up from his crouching position and held on tightly to Kaci as he ran away from the angry looking Beedrill, but the bug pokemon wasn't going to let them get away, he had just been disturbed from it's sleep and was very irritated.

Ash knew there was no way he was going to be able to outrun it with Kaci in his arms. He had to think of something... "Uh, I got it!", he said and then looked over his shoulder and yelled to his yellow friend, "Pikachu, quick, use your thunder bolt!"

Pikachu, who was running right behind it's trainer nodded and stopped in it's tracks. He turned around and lit up his cheeks and let loose it's attack of electricity on the Beedrill, roasting it and making it turn black in color. The Beedrill turned and flew away as fast as its wings would take it, its anger now forgotten and replaced with pain.

With a relieved sigh Ash was about to thank Pikachu for a good job but then heard some whimpering coming from his arms. He looked down and saw that Kaci was starting to cry. "Oh no," he thought, "the lightningbolt must have scared her..."

"Shhh, Kaci..." He said as he tried to stop her by rocking her in his arms, but with no effect. Ash set her down on the ground and thought frantically of ways to make her stop. He tried funny faces but it only seemed to make it worse. Then he tried letting Pikachu and his other pokemon make her stop but nothing happened. She was too busy crying to even notice all the pokemon around her. "Think, Ash think, what on earth would make her stop..." He muttered to himself.

Then it hit him, what his mother said had always calmed him down when he was younger. She had told him and his friends various times when they stayed over. "The only way I was ever able to settle him down was by singing some lullabies, he was too energetic to ever notice all the toys that I offered, but once he heard me singing he couldn't help but fall asleep." She had said that so many times whenever Misty and Brock had tried to get him to stop jumping for joy about a match he had won, and up until now he was glad that she had embarrassed him all those times.

He picked the crying Kaci up and sat her on his lap while trying to think of any kind of lullaby that he knew of. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the one that his Mom used to sing, the one that told him that she would still be there when he woke up. He remembered and started singing. He knew he was singing off-key but he didn't care, because as he sang he saw that it was working and Kaci was beginning to calm down.

"Good night
Good night
You've done good today,
in each and everyway.
Now baby just close your eyes
and dream of the endless skies.
The sun will be back and so will I,
But now is the time for our short good bye.
May your mind be at peace till morrow
and let all your fears go away with your sorrow.
Good night
Good night "

It always worked. Singing was always the thing to make her eyes heavy and droop. The soft melody that had always had so much love in it, she was small but she could still feel it whenever her mother or father sang to her at night. She looked up, her eyes half opened and looked at the person who now had the same effect on her. He kept on singing and she started feeling more and more on the verge of unconsciousness. She yawned and snuggled closer, happy that she wasn't alone, that her mother and father were still there with her. She was young ... but she could feel it.

Ash finished the song and was happy to see that Kaci was fast asleep. Pikachu, who was right in front of Ash was glad to see that the little girl wasn't crying anymore and was fast asleep in his trainer's arms. Kaci was now deep in slumber, her little hand clutching a piece of Ash's shirt as if afraid that she would be left alone if she didn't. Ash just smiled down at her and whispered, "I guess your not as bad as I thought you were, huh?"
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It was pretty dark by the time they came back. With all of the things that Misty insisted that they buy, it had taken them longer then expected. Now as they arrived back at their camp, Misty, happy with all her shopping, and Brock struggling with all of the bags that he had to carry, they saw a sight they didn't think they would have.

There on his sleeping bag was Ash fast asleep with Kaci on his stomach and sound asleep as well. Pikachu was curled into a little ball right besides Ash's head but woke up when he heard his two other human friends approach.

Brock set everything down while Misty went and crouched down in front of Pikachu. "Did everything go ok Pikachu?" she asked as she petted the little rabbit like pokemon, who's reply was a purring sound from the back of it's throat and a nod.

While Brock packed things away in his backpack, Misty admired the cute little scene in front of her. Brock then came over with his camera in his hand and took the shot of the sleeping pair. "This is priceless heh heh." He said as Misty nodded.

"Weird how one can look like an angel when ones asleep." She said to Brock as she picked up the sleeping Kaci and placed her in a small bed she had made for her out of blankets.

"What, you mean Kaci?"

"Nope," She said with a small laugh, "I mean Ash."

Brock laughed at this, "Ya your right.", he said and then they both sat down and ate some dinner, since it seemed they weren't going to get Ash to wake up any time soon. After that they got ready for bed and also fell into the world of slumber.
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He was falling further into the land of dreams, but for some reason he couldn't go all the way. Something, something was nagging at him. This weird noise was coming from somewhere but he didn't have a clue what it was. He had no choice, he had to open his eyes or be bothered by it all night.

Ash opened his eyes and saw that Kaci was whimpering again. He got out of his sleeping bag and picked her up, but some weird smell was coming from her... He started thinking and wondering if something might be wrong. Ash looked over at Misty's sleeping form and crawled towards her.

"Misty, Misty..." he whispered urgently as he shook her shoulder. Misty cracked one eye opened and sat up with a yawn. "What on earth are you doing up Ash?" She asked, but then noticed that he had the little girl in his arms. "Is something wrong?" She asked her eyebrows coming together in worry.

"I woke up cause I heard her whimpering, and then I picked her up so I could calm her down but then I noticed that there was a weird smell coming from her and I don't know what's wrong."

"Calm down Ash, I'm sure she's fine." Misty assured him and then put her arms out, "Here, give her to me." Ash complied and then sat there anxiously waiting to see what was wrong. He saw Misty smell Kaci and then took one finger and stretched the side of the diaper out a little. As if her thoughts had been confirmed she smiled and set Kaci down. She got up without a word, Ash just sat there watching her and wondering what on earth she was so calm about since Kaci was still whimpering. But before he could ask she was back and carrying a diaper. "Nothing's wrong except for the fact that she needs a diaper change, so you can stop worrying Ash." She told him as she changed the babie's diapers.

Ash was happy to know that there was no real danger, but then saw that Kaci was still crying a little. Misty saw this too and told Ash that it was probably because she missed her mother and father. "I mean we are taking care of her right now but we still aren't the people she's had ever since she was born." Ash just nodded understanding completely, being without a father was painful to him. He knew exactly how the little girl must have felt. "How did you get her to go to sleep before Ash?" She said as she turned to him.

"Huh, oh, um I sang to her..." He told her. Misty nodded and just sat there for a while. He couldn't help but stare at her, she had her hair down, something she rarely did, but in Ash's opinion should do more often. She always looked very pretty with it down something that just wouldn't get out of his mind no matter how much he tried. It was then however that he remembered the little book. Could she really be in love with someone? Knowing Misty and how romantic she really was Ash didn't doubt it, but who? He was however disrupted by a sweet melody that came into the air all of a sudden. He looked up and there was Misty singing to the little girl as she rocked her slightly.

He was sucked into some sort of trance by the sweet sound of her voice. He had no idea Misty could sing this well. She was usually too busy yelling and being tomboyish when there wasn't anything cute around. He had never heard her sing before but now he wished he had. It was so addicting, so sweet, but as soon as it had come it left. Kaci was once again sound asleep and Misty placed her in the bed of blankets gently.

Ash just looked at Misty and asked, "How come you never told me you could sing?"

Misty looked up at him with a slight blush crossing her cheeks and smile, "Well you never asked, so I never said." Then she yawned and said, "We better get back to sleep or else we won't be able to get up tomorrow." Ash nodded and then they both crawled and went to their sleeping bags, both saying their goodnights and then entering the world of slumber once again.
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The sun was up. He knew it was, but he wanted to stay asleep. Ash pulled his blanket over his eyes but then caught a whiff of something. Something good. His stomach rumbled and he knew there was no way he was going to go back to sleep with his stomach empty.

Ash sat up and stretched his arms out while he yawned. He then looked over and saw that Brock was stirring something that by the smell Ash thought it must have been oatmeal. He then stood up and saw Misty on the floor with Kaci and Togepi trying to entertain them with Pikachu's help.

"It's almost ready guys." Brock said, and then stood up. "But first I think we should feed Kaci before we dig in." He said and then walked over to his backpack and took out three little jars.

"What's that?" Ash asked.

"They're Gerber Ash, we got three different kinds to see which one Kaci would like." Replied Brock.

"Here I'll do it." Volunteered Misty as she took the jars from Brock and told Ash to place Kaci on a tree stump that was near by. "Lets see, um." She said as she picked the first one while Ash and Brock crouched down to one side of her. "How about we try, ew, carrot flavor?" She said as she looked at Brock. He just shrugged and said that just because she didn't like carrots didn't mean Kaci wouldn't.

"All right." Misty said and then gave Kaci a spoon full. It seemed like she was going to like it, that is until she turned and spit it out right into Ash and Brock's face... Ash sweat dropped and then said, "Great, another red headed carrot hater." While Misty tried her hardest to stifle a laugh.

"Well, if that won't work lets try, squash..." Again Misty looked at Brock but he just shrugged while Ash made gagging noises, obviously agreeing with Misty. She gave Kaci a spoon full of it, only to have her spit it out and hitting Brock in the face again and not Ash, who was smart enough to move out of the way that time.

"Last one," Misty said as she took the banana one in her hand and then gave a spoon full to Kaci. The little girl was reluctant since the first two things she was given didn't taste good at all, but then gave in and tasted it. Brock and Ash had learned their lesson and prepared to get out of the way of the sure to be flying food, but were surprised to see that it never came. Kaci opened her mouth indicating that she liked it and wanted more. Misty kept on feeding her, while Ash and Brock (who were now beyond relief) set everything up for their own breakfeast.

After they had all finished they began packing up. It was then that it finally hit Misty. "We're stopping by the gym aren't we...?" She asked her two companions.

"We're gonna have to, we can't be camping out for too long all the time with Kaci here, so we're gonna have to take stops and your place is one of them." Said Brock who then received a groan from Misty.

What on earth will her sisters say when she arrives at the gym with a baby? She thought as she walked beside Ash, who was carrying Kaci in his arms. She knew one thing though, it was certainly gonna be a trip home to remember....



Woooooooooo! I'm finally done! YAY! Thankies to all of my reviewers once again and Rosy for beta reading! I hope that you liked it and that it was longer than the last one (I think it is though heh heh) and I'm soooo sorry you had to wait again but augh all the homework I have and everything from school, well it's making me even crazier than normal and I haven't had time sorry! Anyways thanks again for taking time in reading this. I really appreciate it! Bye bye!