Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. Big surprise inorite?

Dawn's Epiphany

"Hey, Dawn, you okay there?"

The preteen had been quiet for quite some time now. It was rare for her to go ten minutes without speaking, and when Brock glanced at his watched at his watch, he was stunned to see that no less than half an hour had gone by. "Wow," the breeder thought to himself. "That's a new record! And she didn't even seem to hear me just now! I wonder if it's because Ash and Misty have been so involved in each other since Misty came back...Maybe she feels left out." Brock looked at the girl's face, trying to gauge whether or not she was upset.

Once again the older boy was surprised to find that she didn't look sad, but...contemplative? This was...odd. Not that Dawn couldn't be contemplative; he just wasn't used to seeing her think this hard. The girl looked almost...calculative. And she seemed to be staring intensely at something. The flames from the campfire he had just made were reflected in her eyes, but rather than that they looked blank. Brock followed Dawn's line of sight and found that she was staring at Ash and Misty, who were laughing about some mishap Ash had just recounted involving a rather angry piloswine.

"But she doesn't look upset about being left out, or jealous, or perturbed in anyway. She just looks thoughtful," Brock puzzled to himself. "I wonder what she's thinking about."

Brock was soon to have his questions answered as Dawn suddenly straightened, lifting her head from her hands and smiled brightly. Neither Ash nor Misty saw this change in appearance, but Brock raised an eyebrow and waited quietly to see what the coordinator would say.

"You two," Dawn started, her bubbly tone matching the sparkle in her eyes, "Would have the cutest baby!"

There was silence. Everyone in the clearing stared at Dawn, pokemon included. Brock snorted and almost choked on his spit. He could practically hear Ash and Misty's jaws drop as twin horrified expressions appeared on their faces.

"WHAT?!" The two yelled simultaneously.

"I can see it now!" Dawn clasped her hands together and giggled, oblivious to the others' disgust. "It would be perfect!"

"Are you crazy?" Misty exclaimed. "How could any kid of his be perfect! I thought you had been traveling with Ash long enough to know what a demented goob he is!"

"Hey!" Ash exclaimed in an injured tone. "I'm not a demented goob! Goob isn't even a word!"

"As far as you know!" Misty told him superiorly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh no, your baby would be really smart!" Dawn enthused. She standing now, unable to contain excitement. "Misty's book smart and practical, and Ash, you've got a great imagination and are great with strategies and quick thinking. It would get the best of both smarts!"

"Hmm, I can't disagree with that." Brock nodded his consent from his position by the soup pot.

"Brock!" The two future parents rounded on their friend.

"Don't tell me you support this!" Misty gestured angrily towards Dawn.

"Oh, why not," Brock laughed. "I always thought it would be cute if you two started dating. But no babies right now!" He shook his finger at them sternly. "I don't care what you hear or what your hormones tell you, wait until after your married. And you shouldn't get married until you're at least eighteen so try to contain yourselves for another year!"

Ash and Misty both turned beat red at his words and began to sputter protests. "Ew Brock!" Ash raged. "I did not need to hear that! Especially since it's not going to happen!"

"No kidding it's not going to happen!" Misty edged slightly away from Ash, face turning an even darker red. "We're not even dating! We're just friends!"

"But I haven't even gotten to how cute the baby would look!" Dawn popped up between the two, wrapping an arm around each of the teens' shoulders and hugging them together. "No matter what way the genes get slapped together, that baby would be a-dorable! Can you imagine it with black hair and blue eyes? Or a red head with brown eyes? Or maybe it would be a mix!!" Dawn was practically strangling Ash and Misty by this point; her hold on them increasing as she grew more and more excited.

"I don't want a baby with orange and black striped hair!" Misty wailed, breaking out of the young girl's grasp. "I don't even want a baby right now!"

"What about Togepi?" Dawn shot at her triumphantly.

"That was a pokemon Dawn!" Misty rolled her eyes. "Contrary to whatever you may have heard, I did not have to carry it around in my belly for nine months, nor did I actually have to give birth to it."

Ash snickered while Dawn huffed and shouted"I knew that!"

"So you must realize how ridiculous you sound," Misty snapped.

Dawn opened her mouth to retort but quickly closed it when she saw Misty's expression. The red head had only been around for a week, but the younger girl had already learned not to mess with the gym leader when she looked like that. Whenever Misty used that tone, it usually meant Ash was going to taste some mallet. Dawn seriously doubted that Misty would hurt her, but it was never a good idea to anger the volatile girl.

"I just thought it would be cute," Dawn said quietly with a roll of her eyes. "You should take it as a compliment!"

Misty sighed and rubbed her eyes as the coordinator turned away and went to go sit by Brock. Ash came up to his friend and patted her on the shoulder soothingly. Misty allowed herself to lean into his comforting warmth for a moment before collecting herself and joining the other two.

"Pika?" Ash turned to see Pikachu tugging on his pant leg, a question in his eyes.

"Hmmp. I dunno Pikachu. Guess we'll have to find out, huh?" Ash knelt down to allow his friend to run up his arm and settle on his shoulder.

"Piii," the pokemon exhaled tiredly. Ash laughed and scratched the mouse behind his ear.

"I know, I know. Soon," he promised before heeding Brock's call to come to dinner.

Later that night, when everyone had gone to bed, Misty quietly got up and scooted her sleeping bag closer to Ash's. His eyes popped open, and he smiled mischievously at her darkened outline.

"Well that was interesting," Ash said bemused. "Who'd have thought Dawn would come out with something like that?"

"That girl is way too obsessed with cute things," Misty muttered as she lay down and snuggled into the boy's side. "Hey, Ash."

"Hmm?" Ash trailed his arm around Misty's back and tugged her closer, burying his nose in her sweet scented hair.

"We don't tell Dawn we're dating until after our baby's born, okay?"

Ash laughed quietly, then suddenly grew serious. "Wait, baby...?"

"No you idiot, I'm not pregnant." Misty punched him through their sleeping bags. "Kinda hard to do that when you have a long distance relationship. I'm talking long term, like if we...you know...get married or something," Misty said, stumbling over her words as a light blush graced her cheeks. "If we tell Dawn anything now, she won't shut up about us having a baby until the thing is actually born. I'd rather save all of the screaming for later when I can simply shove the it into her hands. Hopefully that will pacify her."

Ash laughed once more, reassured, and tousled his girlfriend's hair. "I don't think I'd trust Dawn with our kid if she's going to be like she is now when's older," he informed her ruefully.

"Mmm, well, who knows. Maybe she'll find some guy who'll teach her to tone it down." Misty nudged his hand away from her hair and gathered it into her own. "Although, Ho-oh knows we certainly didn't. We still bicker like a couple of ten year olds."

"Yeah, I love us," Ash sighed. "'Night Misty. I'm glad to have you back."

Misty smiled as Ash leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I love us too," she whispered. "Good night Ash."

This is what happens when you're doing your history homework, and you read about the utopian societies that used to select parents for their genes in order to make superior babies: Dawn shows up in your brain fangirling about how an AAML baby would be so kawaii. Yeah...cause we all know Ash and Misty would have an uber baby.

I really don't know where this thing came from. It's merely the product of my procrastination... I loathe taking notes on history readings T_T Now I really need to go work on For Yuuki....hasta luego peeps!