Ash, Misty, and Brock seemed to wake up in unison. When Ash had opened his eyes, he was staring across the room at Brock, who stared back at him and smiled. Ash returned the smile, and rolled over, yawning loudly.

He forced himself up on his elbows, and flipped around to rest on his stomach. Stretching his legs out behind him, his eyes went up to look at Misty, who was on her back, Togepi sitting upright and awake on her stomach. He knew by that that Misty was awake, and sure enough, her head rose slightly when she heard him and Brock rustling.

"Hey," she said in a whisper, yawning herself.

Ash smiled. "Mmmmmm," he replied, dropping his sleepy head back into his pillow.

"Looks like it’s gonna be nice out again, guys," Brock whispered softly, gazing out the window. Bright sunshine shone through it, and he smiled happily at the sweet tweeting of the birds.

"Oh, that’s good," Misty replied, her head back to rest on the pillow.

Ash was silent, but he couldn’t help it. It was so quiet downstairs, but then again, it was quite early. He yawned as he drifted off into deep thought again, ignoring his droopy eyelids as they begged for more sleep. He couldn’t sleep, though. All he could think of was them. The quietness from below was making him a little fidgety, and he wanted to go down.

"I want to go downstairs," he said out loud to Misty and Brock.

"So then go," Misty encouraged.

Ash looked up at her and smiled sheepishly. "I’m scared, Misty."

She giggled. "Aww, don’t be, Ash. You don’t have to worry."

"Yeah," Brock put in. "I mean, whatever’s gonna happen today is gonna happen. You’re just gonna have to accept whatever it is."

Ash nodded, feeling the back of his pajamas stick to his back. His heart pounded softly, and he couldn’t fight the feeling that he was worried. In fact, he was scared. What if he went down there, and Jay was gone? What if his mom’s negative feelings returned?

"Come on, Ash," Misty smiled down at him. "Me ‘n’ Brock’ll come with ya. We’ll be right behind you."

Ash looked from her to Brock, who nodded.

"Pika," Pikachu said, rolling onto his back and smiling at Ash. Ash giggled and rubbed the Pokémon’s belly. Suddenly, he felt a little better, and a small sensation of optimism shot through him. Why think bad thoughts? Just because they came along easier didn’t mean he had to listen to them.

"All right," Ash agreed, swinging his legs out from under the sheets. "Let’s go down. I’m hungry anyway."

Misty and Brock smiled excitedly and got out of bed, as well. Ash slipped his slippers over his cold feet, and stretched his tired limbs. Misty jumped from the second to last step of the ladder, and ran her hands through her tangled hair, ruffling it up. She looked up at Ash and began to giggle, and went over to fix his mussed-up hair.

"It looks that bad?" Ash asked, feeling the silliness of the moment take the edge off his nervousness. His hands reached up to pull at his spiky hair.

Misty laughed. "Naw, it’s cute. Leave it."

"Okay," Ash replied. He turned to his door. "C’mon, let’s go."

Ash, Misty, and Brock made their way down the stairs quietly, just in case Delia and Jay were still asleep. Ash led the group, and as soon as the living room became visible, his eyes shot immediately to the couch to see if Jay was still there.

What the three unsuspecting kids saw next totally shot them out of the water. Ash stood at the landing of the stairs, his jaw dropped as far down as it could go. Misty and Brock looked at each other in shock simultaneously, then back at the scene before them.

Asleep on the couch were Jay and Delia. Delia was practically hanging off the couch, which was a little too small to hold the two, but Jay’s strong arm was draped around her, holding her on. The large blanket that had sufficed Jay fine was grasped tightly in Delia’s hand, who had obviously tugged it over to her to keep warm, for Jay had none of it over him. Her other hand was holding Jay’s softly, their fingers linked loosely and delicately.

Ash, as if hypnotized, tiptoed quietly over to them, his mouth agape. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

"Ash--" Misty whispered, reaching out to hold him back.

Brock grabbed her hand and shook his head no, motioning for her to let Ash go. Misty watched as he made his way slowly to his sleeping parents, a small smile coming to his lips.

Millions of thoughts were running through his mind as Ash approached them, ever so quietly as to not wake them. He didn’t want to, the sight of how peaceful they looked making Ash want to look at them that way forever. Tears of happiness and shock crept to his eyes and his heart pounded, and he lost all consciousness of the world around him. Slowly, he knelt down before them and rested his head softly where their hands were joined, shutting his eyes blissfully as he fully absorbed the moment. He could feel both of them breathing, but especially Delia’s, whose was soft and relaxed.

Suddenly, Ash felt his mother stirring, and his head rose to look at her. She groaned sleepily, squinting her tired eyes to adjust to the sight of Ash, who gazed into her eyes warmly.

When she noticed it was Ash, she was a little shocked, and he could see that. "Good morning, honey," she said sleepily, her voice a bit garbled.

"Hi, Mom," Ash answered, the words coming out in a puff of breath. At that point, he became utterly speechless, and continued to stare into her eyes.

She shut them closed tiredly, but opened them again to smile at her son. Ash smiled, too, gazing at her both lovingly and in a stupor.

"Ash," she sighed softly in whisper, a small, radiant grin spreading across her face. "I listened to my heart."

Ash said nothing, but the single tear that dripped from his eye was enough of a response for Delia. He leaned over and tenderly kissed her cheek. Delia accepted the kiss happily, closing her eyes to become absorbed in it. She was with her husband and her little boy, perfectly content.

Ash’s leaning over was enough to arouse Jay, who began to stir, his eyes still closed from the deep sleep. His moving made Delia smile nervously as she quickly planted her one foot on the ground to keep herself from falling off the couch. Ash grinned at her, then brought his eyes to Jay, who sleepily opened one eye. He groaned, bringing the arm he had had around Delia up to stretch.

Ash’s face brightened in a broad smile as he made eye contact with Jay, who smiled back, reaching over to rub his head. "Hey, squirt," he greeted him, and Ash giggled.

Brock and Misty were still standing on the stairs, their eyes settled on the scene before them. Misty could hardly believe what she was seeing, but it was all true, and it could only possibly mean one thing. But so suddenly! Delia didn’t take much time making up her mind, but then again, maybe she had made her mind up a while ago.

Suddenly, she felt Brock tugging softly on her arm. "Come on, Misty," he whispered into her ear. "Let’s go make breakfast, huh?"

Misty knew that he was just hinting to leave the Ketchum family alone to be together, and she nodded. The two slowly made their way to the kitchen, finding it hard to turn their heads away from the couch, where Ash was looking admiringly at his mom and dad, who were still lying on the couch.

"What happened?" he asked them, his voice still low. He had not fully accepted what he was seeing, and the astonishment in his voice was clearly evident.

Delia looked up and Jay, and he smiled down at her. They both turned back to Ash. For a moment, Ash could swear that they were both blushing slightly, a little embarrassed of the situation.

"Uh . . ." Delia muttered, suddenly breaking into giggles.

Jay began to laugh, too. "Well . . ."

"How ‘bout this?" Delia asked, finally finding a way to tell Ash. She motioned her head beyond Ash’s, who confusingly turned. Still flabbergasted, he turned back to them.

"What?" he asked.

"Behind you," Jay told him, motioning the same way Delia had.

"On the table, dear," Delia continued.

Ash was still a little perplexed, but he turned and glanced down on the coffee table. His eyes fixated on a small, familiar stack of papers resting on it, and a little hesitantly, he picked them up.

He knew what they were instantly, and Jay and Delia knew that. But Ash had no clue as to what their intentions were, or what they were trying to tell him.

"What do you want?" Ash asked calmly and a little nervously, causing his parents to look at each other again and grin. He held the second set of divorce papers loosely in his hands, shaking a bit to even have the overly precious papers in his possession, the fearful memory of what had occurred two days before still fresh in his mind.

Jay winked his eye at Ash, who flinched. "We want you to rip them up for us, Ash."

Ash’s eyes widened in surprise, and he almost dropped the papers. "W -- what?"

Both of them flashed him even wider, toothier grins, unable any longer to contain their giddy laughter. Ash’s eyes darted between his mom and dad, still confused. He was slowly getting the picture, however, and his heart began to beat vigorously.

"You heard what your father said," Delia said, a little seriously.

A small, confounded grin crept to the corners of Ash’s lips. "D -- does this mean . . . ?"

Jay and Delia nodded simultaneously, and without another second passed, Ash leapt onto them, throwing his arms around both of them. They had just enough room underneath him to turn around on the backs, to grip him wherever they could. Ash’s eyes filled with tears as he hugged his parents, finding his father’s side to bury his flushing face in. He couldn’t believe this!

After embracing for a couple of minutes, Ash pulled himself away, a bit worried that he was crushing his mom. Thankfully, though, they were too happy and too excited to see his reaction that nothing else mattered. Ash took a deep breath to calm himself, upon finding him scrutinizing his mother’s face. She noticed this, and cocked her head in wonder of what he was thinking.

"Mom?" he began, but Delia knew from there.

"Shhhhh," she hushed him, bringing her hand up to stroke his face. "I know, I know. You want to know what happened, huh?"

Ash nodded, his smile fading as he got set to concentrate every thought on her explanation. After all, he had still not successfully comprehended the moment. The divorce papers still hung lifelessly in his hand.

"Well," she started, shifting herself to rest on her elbows. Jay moved his arm to let her move, but as soon as she was settled again, he placed it around her comfortingly and lovingly. "When you left last night, I didn’t know what to do. All I could think of was you and your dad, and I got ready and took a shower and all to get myself calmed down."

Ash nodded again, absorbing fully what she was saying. He watched as Jay rested his chin on her head, playfully blowing her loose hair around.

Delia sighed heavily. "So, I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I found myself laying in bed for, what, three hours? I -- I could only remember good things then, and I was trying desperately, trying, trying, to knock some sense into me, but . . . I couldn’t. I really don’t know what happened, but as if I was sleepwalking or something, I found myself leaving my room and running to Jay."

"And keep in mind, Ash, this was like one in the morning!" Jay butt in.

Ash laughed, but turned back to his mom.

"I nearly scared the living daylights out of him!" Delia recalled happily. "He was asleep, so I had to wake him up."

"Quite forcefully," Jay added, highly emphasizing his statement.

Delia laughed as she remembered the event. "I was crazy, Ash. Seriously nuts. I was crying and everything. I started shoving him and shoving him, and well . . ."

Jay smiled, and proudly continued. "She told me that she didn’t want to sleep alone." He gazed down admiringly at her, gently stroking her hair. "And neither did I.

"So, she curled herself up on the couch with me," Jay went on slowly and pleasantly, "and at first, it was a little cramped, but despite what I said, she insisted that we stay here. I wasn’t gonna argue, because, well, your mother’s so dead-set."

Ash laughed, nodding agreeably. "She sure is!" he replied, knowing exactly why Delia didn’t invite him to the bedroom. Good ol’ Mom, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

"So?" he asked, causing Jay and Delia to stare at each other and blush. Ash giggled as did they.

"We talked till six this morning, Ash," Delia said, rubbing her eyes.

Ash’s eyes widened in shock, and he turned to look at the clock on the mantle, which only read eight in the morning. He scratched his head awkwardly.

"Sorry," he apologized, but soon he was back to his questions again. "You . . . you guys talked till six? About what?"

"About everything," Jay answered. "We had a lot of talking to do, because of how suddenly things flipped themselves around. We . . ."

"We decided were gonna try to fix things," Delia finished, finding the perfect words. She breathed in deeply. "I think we can do it, too."

Ash’s heart bounded gleefully, the words he wanted to hear so precisely jump to his ears. He bit his lip down forcefully to keep from whooping out in joy, but instead, focused all his attention on the papers. Before Jay and Delia’s excited eyes, he slowly tore the papers in two, letting the loose shreds fall languidly from his hands.

Looking up hopefully at them, his mom and dad nodded their approval, and Ash beamed in exuberance. Then, to his extreme and unbelieving shock, he witnessed Delia bringing her head up gracefully to Jay as he brought his down, and their lips locked together gently. They closed their eyes delightfully as they engaged in the intimate kiss, holding it there solidly for a good couple of seconds.

Ash’s eyes glistened in tears, and he took deep breaths to calm his beating heart. He hadn’t seen them kiss in years, and he had wondered, oh, so many times, if he would ever see it again. And here it was, right in front of him. Jay and Delia released from the kiss and stared profoundly into their eyes, smiling affably at each other. At the same time, they looked over Ash, and couldn’t do anything but snicker at his surprised expression.

"Come here, you," Delia said, grabbing and pulling him over to her. She pressed her lips to Ash’s cheek. He shut his eyes as she kept the kiss there almost as long as she had with Jay, and she stroked his hair robustly.

"Thank you, Ash," she whispered softly into his ear. "Thank you so, so much."

"You’re welcome," Ash replied in whisper, too. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips. "I love you."

Misty and Brock stood in the entranceway of the kitchen, staring affectionately at the family as the emotion struck them like a bullet. Misty freely let the tears fall from her eyes and she grasped Togepi tightly, unable to believe what was happening. Brock was near tears, as well, but kept them in successfully by biting his tongue. In that moment, they looked up at each other simultaneously.

"Nice work, Misty," Brock told her, extending his hand, and she smiled proudly.

"Same to you, Brock," Misty replied, reaching out to shake it. Her smile lightened as her eyes set on Ash, who was bent over his sudden love-struck parents. At that moment, he looked so joyful, so innocent, so cute. Misty bit her tongue as she sent Ash a soft, mental message.

Back on the couch, Delia took a deep, satisfying breath as she stared into Ash’s glistening eyes.

"I love you, too," Delia replied. "I have the best son a mom could have."

Ash smiled embarrassingly at the wonderful compliment, blushing modestly. "That’s cause I have the best mom." He then looked up at Jay, and with a exhilarated sigh, added, "And dad."

Jay smiled and pulled him in to hug him. Delia grabbed Ash, as well, and the three embraced in a tender hug, their first family hug in what seemed to Ash forever.

STAY TUNED FOR THE CONCLUSION!