Disclaimer: Don’t Own Pokemon!

A/N: Okay and here’s chapter 5! Also, I was reading my last chapter and noticed that I 
lapsed from first person to third person POV for a couple of sentences lol! I completely 
didn’t catch that when I proofread it, so sorry about that guys! I don’t know what the hell 
I was thinking! Anyways, thanks for the reviews and enjoy!

Chapter 5 – The Truth and an Almost Confession

I paced the sterile, white walled waiting room as I impatiently awaited the verdict with 
Ash. He had been in the ER a whopping 45 minutes, but it felt like eternity for me. What 
exactly were they doing in there? I thought all they had to do was get the bullet out and 
patch up the wound…but, what if the doctors had come across a complication…

I stopped my pacing momentarily and stared at the double doors from which Ash had 
been wheeled through earlier. What if something terrible had happened? What if that 
bullet hit some major organ and he was suffering from internal bleeding? What if they 
had to amputate his arm? What if…

“You’ll only worry yourself staring at those doors,” came a voice from behind.

I whipped my head around and was met with Brock’s tired, yet, warm and caring eyes. 

“Brock,” I sighed, engulfing him in a hug that we both desperately needed.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Ash,” smiled Brock, “He’s a fighter, you know that.”

I only nodded and felt the tears come to the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall in full 
force. I quickly wiped them away so that Brock wouldn’t see, but it was too late as I saw 
him giving me a knowing look.

“What’s all this?” asked Brock, noticing my tears.

“Brock I…”

For some reason I couldn’t finish my sentence. Today had really opened my eyes to the 
possibility that Ash could have really died. And for what? For me? To save me from a 
past that had absolutely nothing to do with him? 

“Why would he risk it all…for me?” I whispered softly.

Brock shook his head and sighed, “I would think that was obvious Mist.”

“But he should have never been involved in my problems, it wasn’t fair to him,” I cried.

“Misty…” Brock said in a steady voice, “All of your problems are Ash’s problems…all 
of your fears are his fears…no matter what happens, whether you like it or not, if you’re 
involved, then he’ll always be involved.”

I stared at Brock a moment, letting his words sink in. Maybe he was right…Ash was 
always going to be there for me, regardless of the situation. But he was always the one 
making sacrifices, what could I ever sacrifice that would even be the equivalent of his 
life?

“If you search your heart Misty, then you know as well as I do that Ash would take a 
bullet for you any day of the week,” Brock said confidently, “And if you just look at the 
signs, you know how he truly feels about you.”

What exactly was Brock trying to tell me? Did he know something that I didn’t? Did Ash 
really…

“Excuse me Miss?” I turned my head to see a friendly looking doctor approaching me. I 
rushed to him and gave him a pleading look.

“You’re Ash Ketchum’s friend, right?” he inquired looking over his clipboard and 
flipping through some pages.

“Yes, that’s right. Will he be okay, doctor?” I asked.

“He’ll be just fine, so much so that he’ll be able to go home tomorrow,” smiled the 
doctor, “He’ll have to wear a sling for a couple of weeks and he’ll need to take it easy for 
a while, but other than that, he should make a full recovery.”

I smiled, overwhelmed that things had gone much more smoothly than I had originally 
anticipated. 

“You may go in and see him if you want,” offered the doctor politely.

I looked to Brock, giving him a pleading look. He only smiled at me and placed a hand 
on my shoulder, “You go, me and Pikachu will wait here.”

“Pika pika!”

“Thanks Brock,” I said giving him a hug then following the doctor to Ash’s room.

We had only been walking a couple of minutes before the doctor stopped, almost causing 
me to crash into him. I hadn’t really been paying attention. My thoughts were solely on 
what Brock had said and what the real truth was between Ash and I. The truth…what 
exactly was that?

“He’s right in there,” motioned the doctor as I nodded and watched him take his leave.

I cautiously entered the tiny hospital room, almost scared of what I would find. What was 
there to be scared of though? The doctor had said that Ash would make a full recovery, so 
why was I so worried?

Stepping into the room, I peered around the corner to find Ash in his bed, shirtless, and 
with a sling and gauze wrapped around the area where he had gotten shot.

‘For me…’ I thought to myself, remembering how he had saved me yet again.

He was staring blankly out of the window, but I couldn’t tell if he was really seeing what 
was out there or if he was just thinking. I lightly knocked on the side of the wall and 
instantly broke him out of his trance. He whipped his head around to meet mine and 
smiled warmly, motioning for me to come and sit.

“Hey,” I smiled, taking the closest seat to him. 

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, readjusting himself on the bed.

‘As always, he never thinks of himself,’ I thought, inwardly smiling.

“I’m fine, what about you?” 

“Doc said I’m good to go tomorrow. It’s a good thing too cause this bed is not the image 
of comfort,” he complained, fidgeting even more to accentuate his point.

I giggled at him and he smiled. Then, a weird silence ensued as I found no words come 
between us. It was a rare sight to see the two of us in the same room without another 
word pass between us for even just a minute. It was starting to feel much like it did three 
months ago when Ash had been in another similar looking hospital, nursing injuries that 
Derek had inflicted. 

‘God…talk about déjà vu,’ I thought warily.

Just then Ash broke the silence by taking hold of my hand, a move that caused me to look 
up at him, “Mist, I…”

He looked at his bed sheets, searching for his words. I lightly squeezed his hand, if only 
to reassure him that I was there for him, but this did nothing to ease his nervousness. 
What did he need to tell me? And, above all, was Brock right?

“What is it Ash?”

“I-I’m glad you’re okay…a-and I’m sorry for leaving you earlier,” he finished, sighing in 
what seemed to be frustration.

“Oh…don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault,” I sighed, disappointed and a little upset at 
the fact that Brock might have gotten this whole thing mixed up.

“No, that’s not what I wanted to say,” he muttered, taking in another deep breath.

“Ash?” I questioned, looking up at him.

“Tomorrow,” was the response I got, “I have somewhere I want to take you…just the two 
of us.”

For the first time, he looked up at me and I was finally able to take in beauty of his dark 
brown eyes and, in that instant, I felt myself falling harder and faster than I had ever 
thought possible. 

A/N: Okay, I know that was really short and all but my original plan was to make it much 
shorter so just be glad I got 3.5 pages out of this lol! Don’t you just love the scene with 
Brock? Always the voice of reason and he gives great advice too! Maybe he should take 
some of his own? Anyways, reviews are always welcome and AAML for life!