James sighed happily and stretched from where he lay on his sleeping bag, staring up at the stars. Their latest mission had been a complete success! Well, it wasn't really a mission, not an official one at least. He, Jessie and Meowth hand decided to rob a local restaurant so that they could have a real meal for a change.
So, not only did James get a good, filling meal, (with doughnuts for desert even!), but he got to have a day off from the wild Pika-chase. James grinned to himself for his mental pun, even though it wasn't up to Team standards.
"Well, you certainly look pleased." Jessie said from off to James' left.
He sat up on one elbow to look at her, and replied, "I'm as pleased as a cat-type with a bowl of fresh cream." He nodded in the direction of Meowth, who was cleaning the last bit of milk from a cracked dish.
"What about you?"
"About the same," Jessie replied, pulling out a brush. She was about to start on her hair, but stopped, "I just wish..." she trailed off, shaking her head.
"You just wish what, Jessie?" James prodded, concern tinting his voice.
Jessie shrugged, "It's just that, well, I wish more days could be like this, you know? Doing what we want, not trying to steal that repulsive Pikachu from that stupid kid." She started running the brush through her long fuchsia hair. James admired her grace. He also wondered why she bothered to brush it. It wasn't like it was ever tangled. It's a girl thing, he decided after a moment.
Then he risked a snide comment. He was in good enough of a mood to get thwacked by Jessie. "But Jess, you always do what you want anyways!"
Jessie paused in her brushing and looked at James with an arched eyebrow. Predictably, she bashed him over the head with her brush, saying, "You know what I mean, James!"
The male half of the Team grinned sheepishly, rubbing the bump that Jessie's hairbrush had made. It didn't hurt; he'd been through much worse before.
"Of course," he said in a sugar-sweet voice, "but you should always do what you want. You are perfect, after all."
"It should be that way," she sighed and went back to her brushing.
James wondered what was wrong. They had just had a great day, followed by a great meal, with great weather on top of that! Why was she acting so depressed? Must be that time of the month, James concluded. Usually, Jessie was quick to play this little "game," and she always absorbed compliments like an Oddish with leech life. James guessed that she just wasn't in the mood.
"Hey," Meowth said suddenly, making the two humans jump, "youse guys gonna go to bed or what?"
"In a while, Meowth," Jessie and James said at the same time. They blinked at each other for a few seconds, then both burst out laughing.
"Humans," Meowth scoffed to himself, stalking off to find a -- quiet -- place to sleep, "can't live wit `em, and nobody'll trade `em."
"Cat-types," James said, after getting over his giggling, "can't live with `em and the Boss doesn't want `im."
That comment sent Jessie into another fit of laughter, pulling James in as well. They both stopped after a few minutes, with their sides aching. then they made the mistake of looking at each other, which set them both off again. It went on like that for a long time until both of them were clutching their sides and gasping for air.
"I... I feel... like... like a fourteen... year... old," James panted.
"Me... to. Only... I don't... look... like one." Jessie grinned at James' flustered expression.
"Then... again.. neither do you. You... look.. more like... a confused... Shellder."
James blinked, and grinned back at her. "Oh?" At her nod, he continued,
"Well, you know what you remind me of?" His grin turned evil, "A Lapras."
"A Lapras? Why?"
"All that ice!" At which he produced a handful of ice and shoved it down the back Jessie's shirt. She screamed and leapt to her feet, trying to get the ice out of her shirt. She also managed to launch her brush at James, who caught it and set it down on her sleeping bag. then he stood up and tried to grab her, dodging her flailing.
"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"
"Hold still!" James grunted, shoved his hand up the back of her shirt, and pulled the ice out. "There," he said, "better?"
"No," she said, and flopped down on her sleeping bag to continue her hair brushing.
James shrugged and sat on his own sleeping bag, and began to count grains of sand. Then he got whacked by a mallet.
Jessie was on the other end of the mallet. "There," she said around the ringing in her partner's ears, "that's better."
"Good..." James groaned, rubbing the consequent lump, and then shaking his head to clear it. He blinked at Jessie, who had already put the mallet away. She was standing, looking down at James, and shivering. "Jess? You might wanna put on some drier clothes."
"G-good id-d-dea." James politely turned around, listening to his partner change clothes. When he turned back around, he saw Jessie, still shivering, in her pink pajamas, sitting on her sleeping bag.
James rolled his eyes at her. Seeing that she was getting no reaction, Jessie crawled into her bag... only to jump right back out and land on her partner's lap, clutching on to him. "Something's in there!"
"So, go get it out!"
"What?" Jessie gasped, "and risk injuring my perfection? Never!"
"Well, I'm not gonna! It might involve physical pain, which I wish to avoid as much as possible!"
"What, then? I'm cold, it's going to get colder, and my sleeping bag has things in it!"
Yup, James thought, it's that time of the month...
"Hmm," he wisely left his thoughts unvoiced, "you could have mine."
"Very generous, James, but you forgot one thing."
"What's that?"
"Where are you going to sleep?"
"In my... oh, yeah." He scratched his head. "I s'pose we could share..." He ducked, waiting for a blow -- that never came.
"Okay..." Jessie said slowly, "but... how? There's only room for one person."
"Hmm..." James stood up, gently pushing Jessie from his lap. He started piling up leaves and pine needles until he had a large pile, which he then spread until it was about the size of an unzipped sleeping bag, and a couple of inches thick.
"James, what are you doing?" Jessie was watching him from where she sat after he had stood up.
"Making a bed," he said as he pulled a tarp from the basket of the Meowth balloon and draped it over his creation. "There," he said, admiring his work.
"Oh!" Jessie caught on and unzipped James' sleeping bag. She then took it to the "bed" and lay it on the pile. While she was doing that, James changed quickly out of his Team Rocket uniform, and into his blue pajamas.
Without another word, Team Rocket slid under the sleeping bag, Jessie's back to James' front.
"Wow," Jessie said suddenly, "this is pretty comfortable."
"Yes, pretty comfortable for pretty people like us. We have done worse."
"Mmhmm." Jessie yawned, then shivered. "Why is it always cold when one of us is without a sleeping bag?"
"Just our luck, I guess," James said absently, studying the line of Jessie's backbone through her shirt.
"But, I guess I shouldn't complain, right? We had such a good day." Jessie shivered again.
"Yeah," James was now admiring Jessie's hair. "James? Are you listening to me?"
"Uh-hunh."
"You warm?"
"Yeah."
"Good." Suddenly, she was up against him, her body molding into the position his was in.
James tried not to stiffen up, (in more ways than one), but he couldn't help it. Here he was with a beautiful woman pressed up against him. Not just any beautiful woman either! It was Jessie, the woman that he was in love -- and in lust -- with. In order to stifle a moan he could feel escaping his throat, he said, "Better?"
"Yes," Jessie said, cuddling up to him even more. Then James noticed that Jessie really was cold, freezing in fact. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, hoping for two things: one, that she would warm up; two, that she wouldn't slap him.
She didn't slap him, in fact, she entwined the fingers of one of her hands with the fingers of his. He sighed quietly and contentedly, burying his face into her hair. It was so soft, and smelled nice too.
He was full, he was comfortable, he was warm, and he was with Jessie. James decided that if he had died right then, he'd die a happy man.
He was just dozing off when Jessie spoke.
"James?"
"Mmm?"
"Why is life so difficult?"
"Why are you asking this now, after the day we just had?"
"Well, we had one good day. Out of how many bad days? How many really bad days?" She released his hand and squirmed around so she faced him.
"Well, I supposed... a lot," he shrugged, looking deeply into the blue sea of Jessie's eyes. "But why ruin it by thinking about bad days? It's a good day because it's not a bad day. Or -- something." He was losing himself to those eyes, eyes that betrayed a soul that he already knew as well as his own.
"Good point, I guess." She ran her finger through his hair, and he wrapped both around tightly around her, holding her close. Her head was under his chin, and he craned his neck to gently kiss the top of her head.
Jessie sighed happily in response and draped an arm over him. They twined their legs together, bringing them even closer to one-another.
James stifled a yawn, and felt his eyelids suddenly gain a lot of weight. He didn't want to sleep, not yet. He knew where this could lead. But he was just... too.. tired.
"James?"
"Yeah Jess?"
"We're best friends, right?"
"Of course."
"So, we'll be together, forever, no matter what, right?"
"Yes."
"Good." She yawned. A few minutes of silence, then,
"James?"
"Unh?"
"I... I love you."
James smiled into Jessie's hair. He'd been waiting to hear that for such a long time... from anybody. Hell, he wouldn't have minded it he'd heard it from Ash, by this point. But he was glad that it had come from Jessie.
"I love you too, Jessica," he held her tightly, as if by relaxing his grip, the love would slip away.
Then he felt Jessie sigh comfortably and relax into slumber. He relaxed his hold on her and kissed her head again.
And just before he slipped out of consciousness, he had one fleeting thought, Yes, definitely a very good day.