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More Than Just Friends
By: Bao (bao2@angelfire.com)

Part 1

"A hotel finally."
"I'm like so tired."
"Yeah and I need my beauty sleep."
They stepped inside the hotel that had only one vacancy left.
"Excuse me do you need any help?" asked the hotel manager who herself was too tired to recognize the Team Rocket uniforms.
"Yes um...how many rooms left?" asked Jessie who was now exhausted after another long day.
"Only one more," the manager replied the hotel manager
"How much is it?" yawned James who was just as exhausted as his panther.
"Ten dollars a night" the lady told them.
"We'll take it" Jessie said as she slammed the counter.
James had no other choice but hand the lady his last ten dollars. The trio decided that they were too tired of sleeping on the hard ground; also payday was the next day (so what the heck?).
"Excuse me but..."
"Look lady but what ever the situation we could handle it" Meowth was just tired and wanted to get some sleep.
"But..."
"This is the only place with a vacancy and we're taking it" James yawned again.
The lady handed the keys to James and told them their number.

"So this is the room?"
"It looks kinda small...no wonder it was so cheap"
"I don't care, just close the door will ya"
James closed the door behind Jessie and yawned again.
"Will you stop the unnecessary yawning you're just making me feel.... Yawn.... more tired"
Knowing the length of time Jessie takes in the bathroom he did not even hesitate and while his partner was talking he dashed to the showers. Meanwhile after she finished saying what she had to say all she heard was the door slam and realized that James was not listening to what she had to say but was in the bathroom bathing.
"He's gonna pay" Jessie swore to herself.

"Humans" said Meowth as he shook his head. Then he went behind the bed and started to clean his fur.

Few minutes later James came out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He knew that if he decided to stay any longer he would get a good hard slap from Jessie. Still it was payback time. Jessie stood in front the bathroom door with her arms folded and her feet tapping on the floor. Meowth knew something 'exciting' was going to happen so he couldn't resist from looking behind the bed. James saw how angry Jessie was not only because he took the bathroom before her but also he did not listen to her while she was speaking.
"Jessie please don't..."
Slam.
James just received a hard slap from one of Jessie's paper fans.
"That's for rushing me for the bathroom"
Another slap.
"That's for not listening to me "
Another slap, and the towel would have fallen to the ground if it wasnt for his quick reflexes.
"What was that other slap for Jessie?" asked James confused.
Jessie hesitated for a minute
"I'll tell you when I'm ready" Jessie snapped.
She then got her bundle of clothes and went to the bathroom. After the door closed all James heard was snickering from behind the bed. Soon the bathroom door reopened and all of his clothes were thrown out.
"Great" James said to himself.
Meowth began to snicker louder now. Completely frustrated with all the embarrassment James pelted one of his boots hitting Meowth unconscious.
"That should keep him out for a while" James thought to himself.
He then changed into his pajamas and fell asleep on the bed.

Meanwhile...

Jessie laughed to herself remembering how James looked when he caught the towel before it hit the ground. Still she could not find the proper excuse for hitting him the third time. It seemed that she just hit him for the sake of hitting him. Still she could not help herself. She was now drying herself still thinking of what happened earlier on. But somehow she felt sorry for him. Reason that is she liked him a lot but she could not express it properly. Maybe that was the reason she hit him the third time. Jessie looked into the mirror to fix her long red hair but just the thought of liking James made her blush a deep red. After she dressed herself and was going to sleep there she found her partner not sprawled out but respectively on one side of the bed. Still she felt sorry for the poor guy she did not push him off like she always did but instead the thought of sharing came to mind. She didn't do that often but tonight was different.

"Hey wake up..."
"Wake up..."
"Wake up Jess..."
Jessie woke up in one of her groggy moods.
"You mean it's morning already?" Jessie yawned.
"Yeah and I'm making breakfast too."
Jessie smiled and rubbed her eyes trying to force herself to stay up. She then lazily got up from her bed with her Team Rocket uniform headed towards the bathroom. Again she looked at herself in the mirror. She gazed at herself at the mirror until she decided to bathe. Again after she took her bath she stared in the mirror and then applied make-up to her face. Still, during this delicate part of the morning she could not figure out last night. After she finished her morning duty she sat on the toilet's cover carefully sorting out her thoughts. Suddenly there was a knocking on the door.
"Jessie breakfast is ready"
"Yeah coming in a moment"
Jessie packed all her belongings into a small bag and headed for the small dining room. Soon she was enjoying a hearty breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, toast and a large glass of orange juice.

After breakfast the trio decided to plan for the capture of that pikachu then collect their pay-checks.
"So where do you think those brats are?" Jessie asked now thinking up a good plan.
"Well checking our recent quick losses they should be somewhere on route thirty six." James answered.
"Now where is that?" Jessie asked still thinking up of a plan. First James rubbed the back of his neck, then scratched the middle of his head for no particular reason and then looked up to the heavens. Jessie and Meowth looked up at him anxiously for an answer. James finally came up with one after the long delay. "I..." He scratched his head again "I don't know," he answered hesitantly.
Jessie and Meowth fell over anime style.
"Man all this hard work is getting to me," complained James.
At once Jessie got up from the ground and conked James on the head.
"Ow!!" James quickly responded rubbing the sore spot on his head.
"Stop complaining we have that Pikachu to catch!" Jessie snapped at him.
"You can't blame me that we need a vacation for so long," James complained again.
Jessie was about to conk him again but she stopped her hand in mid air. She looked at James who was holding his hands over his head like a little boy. She stopped to think.
"You know we really deserve a vacation..." She paused.
James looked at her in surprise. She was actually agreeing to his complaint.
"... But the Boss won't give us one" she sighed and one of those mushroom clouds came out of her mouth. James sighed with her.
"Hey guys" Meowth called in "today's pay-day isn't it?"
Jessie and James shook their heads like disappointed little five-year-olds.
"Well maybe we could sneak a vacation," Meowth calmly suggested.
At once the two faces lit up. But James sighed again and asked
"What if the Boss finds out?"
Jessie who also wanted a vacation badly became bold and simply suggested that they wore disguises.
"If we're going on a vacation I hope I don't have to wear those stupid girl clothes!" James complained again.
"Stop complaining," Jessie sternly told him. She then mused, "I thought you enjoyed those disguises, you act so lady-like in them!"
James looked at her from the corner of his eyes and pouted.
"Well there's something I have to tell you J-E-S-S-E. I detest wearing those girly clothes. I only do that because you force me to."
Jessie was about to conk him again but was interrupted by Meowth.
"Hey with the rate you guys are going all day we won't have any vacation!!"
"He's right let's change," at once Jessie went to the bedroom to change.
After she went James with the help of Meowth cleared the table.

An hour later everyone was in the bank collecting their pay-checks (including Meowth). After Jessie and Meowth exited the bank James withdrew all the money he was saving to buy himself a new outfit.
"Hey James why'd you take so long?" Jessie asked, as she looked at him in his black sweater and jeans. Jessie wore something similar, as it was cold out.
"All I did was withdraw the money I was saving for the outfit I saw the other day." He answered as he tucked the money in his pocket. "Well then, lets go shopping!" Jessie squealed as she grabbed his arm and headed towards the biggest shopping plaza.
"Today's gonna be long day..." Meowth muttered under his breath as he watched James being pulled away.

The first place Jessie went was the cosmetics store, where there was a sale up to fifty percent off. So she spent nearly the whole day spending half her money. After that they ended up in a jewelry store. There Jessie saw the most exquisite diamond ring. It was not one of those bulky ugly looking ones that made your hands look so tiny. But it was a small one that had the perfect touch in every way.
"Hey," Jessie called from over the counter, "Can I see this?" She then pointed to the ring.
At once the jeweler opened the showcase and handed her the jewel. Jessie eyes sparkled and then it became wobbly. All James did was look at her in a strange way.
"How much is it?" James asked out of curiosity.
The lady took the back the ring to check the price and Jessie reluctantly gave it up.
"It's seven hundred dollars." the lady smiled and placed the ring on the counter. Jessie felt as if she was falling apart.
"Seven hundred, seven hundred?? Where the hell am I gonna get that kind of money?" she kept asking herself.
All James could do was look at her sad expression. He felt sorry for her. Jessie faked a smile but the disappointment was still there on her face. She then walked out the store followed by Meowth who just wanted her to go on with her life. James just felt sorry for her and remembered how on one occasion he heard her talking about not getting anything she wanted as a child. He just could not see her getting nothing she badly wanted, so he decided that it was about time that she got something he felt she deserved. He then thought about stealing it but if he did it would trace back to him and therefore the boss would know about their little 'vacation'. He dug deep into his pocket taking out all the crumpled notes and called out to the lady who putting the ring away.
"Um...excuse me but I'll like to buy the ring."
The lady looked at him and smiled. At once she took the ring and placed it into a small casing. James counted his money; if he bought this ring all he'd have for the rest of the week was two hundred. He didn't mind though it was just a little sacrifice, to see someone he really cared about smile.
James soon exited the store shoving the case in his pocket.

"What took you so long? Didn't you realize that we were waiting outside?" Meowth asked.
James completely ignored the Pokemon. All he wanted to do was give Jessie the ring but now was not the time.
"Hey Jess," James called out thinking of a way to make her stop thinking of the ring.
"What is it?" she asked sighing.
"I'm kinda hungry. How 'bout you?"
"Well it's about time, I'm starvin' here!!" Meowth snapped
Jessie was still too disappointed to really say anything. "Hey if it was snowing today, I would have probably made a snowgasboard and put all the soy sauce you wanted."
Jessie looked at him and smiled.
"Too much soy sauce isn't good for you," she said as she caressed the side of James' face.
Jessie was feeling a little better now and James knew that, but all he wanted to do was get Meowth to go away for some time so that he could make her feel happier than she was now.
"Let's go to the all you can eat buffet."
"I was thinking some place fancier"
"Mc Donalds?"
"No she paused "How about one of those fancy restaurants?"
"Hey fine with me but who's paying?"
"You, of course."
Jessie and Meowth walked off.
"Huh?" James asked, confused.

After the fancy lunch James reluctantly handed the waitress the rest of his money, he then blinked and exhaled loudly.

Soon after the trio exited the restaurant there, did Jessie make a suggestion.
"Since it's nearly dark, why don't we just take a walk in the park and plan for tomorrow?"
"Hey that's a great idea!" James commented.
Even though the three decided to talk about tomorrow's mission, they ended up talking about something else.
"Hey, don't you find it beautiful out here in the park?" James asked trying to make a simple conversation.
"Yeah," Jessie answered as she looked at the sky. It was now night and the moon came out in all its glory.
"You know I wish that we could do this a little more often," James sighed.
"Yeah," Jessie answered again, not really listening to her partner.
She could not keep herself from thinking about how beautiful it was. There she was, in the middle of the park, in the middle of the night, with some guy she just can't get her mind off of, it was almost a dream come true, well that was except... She looked down at the Meowth, which was constantly following them everywhere she and her partner went.
James was thinking the same thing, and he anxiously wanted to give his present to Jessie, but not in front of Meowth. It was something personal plus, Meowth would probably tease him a lot if he knew how he really felt.
"Hey guys," Meowth called out "I thought that we were supposed to talk about our mission tomorrow?" He then plopped himself on the edge of a nearby seat. Jess and James followed suit.
"Okay I have an idea why don't we just dig a pit like always?"
Jessie and Meowth at him cross-eyed.
"Hey look we could go to HQ tomorrow and get some supplies and plan...ok?"
Everyone became quiet. No one had any other ideas. Every one of their plans failed miserably. An hour passed and no one said anything that was until James caught himself. He woke up from a short nap. He looked at his partners. Jessie was there asleep on his chest and Meowth was there asleep on Jessie's lap. He did not want to wake up anybody especially Jessie so he had to the task of carrying everyone back to the blown up balloon where it was partially hidden in the outskirts of the forest.

Next Morning...

"Wake up..."
"Wake up James!"
"WAKE UP JAMES!!"

"What? Who? Where? When?" James got up in a fright.
"We have to go to head quarters today remember?" Mewoth called out.
"Hurry up and dress, you can't go like that," Jessie added in.
Jessie then handed James his uniform. He sighed and went behind some bushes to change. He was almost done; all he had to do was put on his white jacket when he heard someone shouting.
"Prepare for trouble and make it double" "To infect the world with devastation" "To blight all peoples in every nation" "To denounce the goodness of truth and love" "To extend our wrath to the stars above" "Cassidy!" "Butch!" "We're Team Rocket circling the earth all day and Night" "Surrender now cause you will surely lose the fight" "That's Right"

"What the hell you want now?" Jessie shouted looking up at the helicopter.
James came out of the bushes, fully dressed, to see what was going on.
"It's not what I want Jessie it's what the Boss wants," informed Cassidy "He wants to speak to you losers right away."
"The Boss wants to speak to us?" James stammered. "That's right and he can't wait to tell you that you're fired!!" laughed Butch.
"Those two runts....if I ever get my hands on you two I'll..." Jessie shouted.
At once James held her back.

"Too bad we can't stay and enjoy the fun but we have Pokemon to steal!" and with that they left.