Jessie whipped around to look at him. Suddenly the sound of the fireworks became nothing but background noise.

"What did you say?"

James turned to face her and propped himself up on one knee.

"Marry me." He slipped his hand in to his pocket and pulled out a little navy, velvet box.

He watched her with such calm patience that Jessie could hardly believe this was the same man she had met almost eight years ago and yet she had loved him for almost all of that time.

"Oh, of course I will," she said throwing herself in to his arms. He laughed with relief and held her close to him. She had hoped that one day they would get married but the way he proposed was so unexpected that Jessie had to fight back tears of happiness.

"Here, try on the ring," he said. Jessie had completely forgotten to even look at the ring in her excitement. He popped open the ring box to reveal a beautiful gold band holding one single magnificent diamond. James took her hand and slipped the ring on to her finger. It was a perfect fit.

Almost nothing could have distracted Jessie from that moment, except perhaps a chubby little Pikachu running past them on the hill. The unexpected sight made her turn around.

"The twerps are here," James said, putting his arms around Jessie from behind and resting his chin on he shoulder, watching the Pikachu with longing. Sure enough, three little twerps followed the Pikachu shouting about their plans to go and defeat some gym leader or another as they left the venue. Jessie watched them with a peculiar feeling bubbling inside her.

"I think I miss them," she said.

"You know what? I think I might miss them too," James said.

Something else caught Jessie's eye as she watched the three kids and their Pokémon. There was a rustling in the bushes at the bottom of the hill and Jessie recognised a familiar mop of brown hair.

"Jasper's down there!" she said, wondering what he was doing here.

"Jasper and Carmen," James said. Jessie watched with great amusement as the pair of Rocket agents attempted to hide in the bushes, evidently planning an ambush for the twerps but they kept stepping on each other's toes - literally.

"Looks like they took our jobs," James said.

"It's a shame we don't get to do that anymore. We were dreadful at it, but it was so fun." she said.

"Well why can't we?" said a voice behind them. Meowth had climbed the hill and was holding something behind his back.

"What have you got there?"

"Well," he said, looking rather proud of himself. "I figured it wouldn't be long be 'til you got all soppy over not havin' a job anymore so I thought we could go freelance."

"You mean still chase the twerps but not have to give anything to the Boss?"

"Sure."

"And get to go home to a warm house at the end of the day," said James, his eyes lighting up.

"So..." said Meowth, revealing two piles of clothes. Jessie took one and unfolded it.

"Our Rocket uniforms!"

"You kept them?"

"I sure did," Meowth said, "and I only made a few minor adjustments."

Sure enough, the big red 'R' on the front of their shirts had been replaced with a 'J'.

Within seconds, Jessie and James had changed out of their formalwear and in to their familiar outfits and slipped down the hill as quietly as they could, passing Jasper and Carmen on the way.

"What are you doing here?" Carmen whispered, looking irritated.

"Let us show you how it's done," Jessie said with a smug smile, taking an immediate dislike to the black haired Rocket agent.

"Jessie..." said Jasper. He seemed completely caught off guard at the sight of her.

"Jasper." She gave him a polite nod, but nothing more. As far as she was concerned, everything that went on between herself and Jasper was far in the past – both the good and the bad experiences. She looked around to see that the twerps were almost out of sight.

"Come on," she said.

"After you, fiancée," said James, bowing to Jessie.

"You are too kind, fiancé," Jessie said, giving a rather exaggerated curtsey.

"Just come on," said Meowth, rolling his eyes. Jessie thought she saw Jasper and Carmen exchanging surprised looks.

The trio followed the twerps a little way away from the Borealis Gardens, not wanting to cause a scene at the dinner where they had just been honoured. The road was dark but after a mile or so, they saw streetlights ahead casting large orange circles of light on to the path and seized their opportunity. Jessie, James and Meowth leaped from the bushes in to the light in perfect synchronicity. The twerps were startled and gave their usual dramatic shout of,

"Team Rocket!"

"Not quite," said Meowth. "But still..."

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

A/N Well, that's it! I'm actually quite sorry that this story is over, I've been working on it for two and a half years! Thank you so much for your support throughout this fic, it means the world to me. Please review and let me know what you thought of the story as a whole.