I'll look after you
It was only a sneeze. Barely audible above her and Brock's conversation. So small a noise it could have easily have been Bonnie who sneezed. Misty knew it was Ash who had sneezed. Hopefully, that sneeze was just due to hayfever cause the alternative was that Ash was getting sick and that wouldn't be good for anyone. She glanced over at Ash, wiping his hands on the grass he was sat on. Misty felt slightly silly that in the large group they now travelled in she could tell Ash apart from them just by a small sneeze. She rolled her eyes, knowing what would be coming within the next few days
"Bless you Ash" Misty said gently.
"Thank you" Ash sniffed.
"You okay Ash?" Bonnie asked, looking up at him with her big caring doe eyes.
"I'm fine Bonnie" Ash reassured her.
"Bonnie... Time to get to bed" Clemont reminded his younger sister.
"Aww but I wanna stay up with all of you" Bonnie whined
"Hey, Bonnie... You go to sleep now and tomorrow I'll help you to work on a performance and maybe you can enter a contest soon. Deal?" Dawn reasoned with the young blonde
"Okay fine" Bonnie agreed.
"Aww, is the little kid getting sick?" Iris asked in a mocking tone
"Shut up Iris" Ash snapped back at her
"Max... It's time for you to get off to bed too now" May reminded her little brother.
"Aww but I'm not finished reading" Max whined
"Well tough. It's late. You can finish your book tomorrow" May scolded. Max was about to continue arguing with his sister when his argument was drowned out by a plethora of sneezes and coughs from Ash. Misty's worst fears were confirmed. Ash was getting sick. Ash sick is never a good experience. When he's sick Ash becomes... For lack of a better word... Pathetic. Normally Ash is loud, independent, fun loving and carefree but when he was sick he became whiny, clingy, miserable and depressed. But even when he feels like this Ash still pushes on, always moving on. Never giving himself time to properly rest and get over an illness. Misty hated that about him. She knew that one day he'd just make himself worse.
Apparently, today was going to be that day. As Ash stood up he took a small step forward before fainting. As soon as Ash had hit the floor Misty was on her knees by his side
"Ash?" Misty whispered, shaking his shoulders gently, trying to get him to come round.
"Huh?" Ash moaned, slowly opening his eyes to find himself staring back into Misty's worried blue eyes.
"Is everything okay over here?" Nurse Joy asked, walking over to see what was going on
"Yes, thank you, Nurse Joy, our friend is just feeling a bit sick" Cilan answered just as Ash sat up and emptied the contents of his stomach.
"Oh okay, I'll just go and get something to clean this up"
"Sorry about this" Cilan apologised, getting up and following Nurse Joy, offering his help in cleaning up Ash's mess
"Sorry" Ash groaned
"We should get Ash back to his room" Brock suggested
"Good idea" Clemont agreed. Between himself and Brock, they managed to get Ash back to his feet, albeit unsteadily and placing one each of his arms around their shoulders they walked him back to his room while Iris and Dawn walked behind, carrying between them Ash's bag, cap and his Pokeballs. Pikachu climbed up on to Misty's shoulder as she made her way out to the kitchen to grab a glass of water before making her way back to Ash's room.
"Here you go Ash" Misty placed the glass of water on Ash's bedside table.
"Thanks, Misty" Ash grimace.
"We'll leave you two alone" Brock whispered to Misty
"Thanks," Misty whispered back. She sat on the edge of the bed and gently pushed Ash's hair out of his face.
"You're an idiot Ash Ketchum" Misty whispered lovingly
"That's not nice Misty" Ash whined
"Well it's true, you've been getting sick for a week now and you've not slowed down one bit. Not even Bonnie is silly enough to do that" Misty scolded. Ash looked up at her with sad eyes, looking so hurt Misty wishes she could take her words back.
"I'm sorry" She muttered quietly gently kissing her boyfriend's forehead.
"I won't be a moment, I just need to go and see Brock quickly," Misty told him
"Okay," Ash replied. Misty kissed his forehead again before getting up and leaving his room, she made her way along to Brock's room.
"Hi Brock, do you still have that pile of DVDs?" Misty asked as she entered
"Yeah, what ones do you want?" Brock asked as he began to sort through his bag
"Ash's favourites, please" Misty answered
"Sure thing" Brock smiled, handing over a small pile of Ash's favourite films
"Thanks, Brock" Misty replied, taking the DVDs and returning to Ash's room. She entered his room to find him unsteadily leaving the bathroom, the sound of the toilet flushing dying down behind him.
"You okay?" She asked, concerned about him
"Yeah" Ash lied. He allowed Misty to help him back to bed. He laid down as Misty sat on the edge of the bed, turned the tv on and inserted one of the discs into the accompanying DVD player. She waited for the menu screen to load then she pressed play. She climbed back next to Ash and pulled him in tighter to him as the movie began with the sun rising over the planes of Africa
"This is..." Ash began
"Your favourite, I know" Misty finished the sentence for him. She kissed his forehead and stroked his hair comfortingly as they watched the film in a peaceful silence- which was only broken by Ash sipping from his glass of water
"I'm sorry I'm such a pain sometimes Misty" Ash whispered
"Shhh, you're not a pain, I'll always look after you, whether or not you're sick" Misty reassured him.
"Love you" Ash mumbled sleepily as he began to drift off
"Love you too" Misty replies quietly.