Ash x Gary (Palletshipping)

You Are My Solrock

Me: "There are a million varieties of this song out there, and I couldn't quite find a version that matched what I was looking for—especially not a version replacing 'sunshine' with 'Solrock' LOL—so hit YouTube up yourself or just go without. Enjoy!"

Gary: "Just sing it yourself, you lazy skank."

Me: "But that's one of the problems! I was looking for a male singer! And thanks for reading, folks! And Not_Happening for commenting!" *Waves bye-bye*

Dawn: "But we're not glad, Wattpad, that you tried to resist our posting of this chapter! Piplup, prepare for battle!"

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Teagan wants me to sing her a lullaby after she gets all snuggled in under the covers of her top bunk bed in our room in the Pokémon Center. Ash still hasn't come back from wherever he ran off to so I had to instruct the Nurse Joy here to be on the lookout for a black-haired, brown-eyed idiot. There's a part of me that's a bit scared he's never coming back, and so my voice is somewhat hoarse as I begin to sing, stroking my daughter's soft, blonde hair unwoven from its braid.

"You are my Solrock, my only Solrock.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my Solrock away..."

I remember singing this song to Teagan all the time when she was little. She loved it.

"The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,

I dreamt I held you in my arms.

When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken,

And so I hung my head, and I cried..."

Teagan's mother used to sing this to her all the time when she was still a little thing growing in her stomach. I sigh, remembering the lovely woman that Teagan got her hair from. I never loved her, but she really was a wonderful person. Not totally dopey like the rest of my fangirls, and she loved Teagan with a passion—was willing to give her life to bring our Solrock into the world.

"You are my Solrock, my only Solrock.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my Solrock away..."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about Ash by this point in the song.

"I'll always love you and make you happy

If you will only say the same.

But if you leave me to love another,

You'll regret it all some day..."

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling bitter.

"You are my Solrock, my only Solrock.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my Solrock away..."

By now, Teagan has closed her eyes and is breathing more evenly. She's so peaceful when she sleeps. All the horror of her birth—it's like it never happened. All the heartache over Ash—it's like it doesn't matter.

"You told me once, dear, you really loved me,

And no one else, dear, could come between.

But now you've left me and love another.

You have shattered all my dreams..."

My eyes prick with tears, knowing that I never even got to hear Ash say, 'I love you,' even once. I am so much more unfortunate than the person who wrote this song. It's harder to sing on, now.

"You are my Solrock, my only Solrock.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my Solrock away..."

I trail off into silence, and then I put my head in my arms, crossed on the edge of Teagan's bed, and I weep while my daughter sleeps peacefully. Why does love feel this way?

I can vaguely hear some shouting down the hall, but it's just a background accompaniment to my sobs.

Suddenly, the door slams open, startling Teagan awake and making me stand up straight.

It's Ash, and he looks terrible. A groggy Pikachu looking pissed as it sits in his arms with his new jacket. He looks like he's been crying, and I just want to cry harder for it. The cruel thing about love is that there really is no satisfaction in seeing the person you can't have hurt. There is no revenge, no justice, no balm for your wounds except the touch of the person who will never love you back.

"Gary, I love you," Ash breathes out into the darkness of the room. A cranky Nurse Joy has joined him in the doorway, but she pauses, hearing the words I'm sure I didn't hear.

"What?" I ask, feeling my face go stupidly slack in a numb expression caught between surprise and realization.

"I love you, Gary," he gasps like the words are a knife to the heart and then throws himself into my arms, dropping an enraged Pikachu to the floor.

I catch him, and this slow, stinging ache of excruciatingly intense joy spreads through me, originating somewhere in my chest and infecting the rest of me. If he were to look up and say, "Just kidding," now, it would kill me.

"I love you, too, Ash," I whisper into his hair, trying and failing to hold in a fresh flood of tears, "Why are you saying this now?" I have to ask. I have to know the details of my fate.

"I'm sorry. I was just scared before." He pulls back from me a bit, and I can see, impossibly, that he's smiling.

"Scared of what?" I run a hand through his hair, beyond confused, but happy to have him in my arms, close enough to touch.

"You never heard, did you?" he wonders aloud in a tone that sounds like he's musing to himself.

"Heard what?" I am going to get a headache if he goes on like this.

"Mom died," I gasp a little. Ash ignores the interruption. "It was a few years ago. Car accident. Completely unexpected. And I guess I was just...scared I'd lose you, too."

I think he's still holding something back from me, but this is more than I ever hoped for. So I pull him back into me and whisper, "Never," because it's the truth, "You can't ever lose me, Ashy boy," I tease him a little for old times' sake, "Even if I died," he tenses in my arms, "I'd haunt you wherever you went."

Ash tightens his hold on me, murmuring, "I love you," once again into my neck. I respond in kind, feeling so...complete in this moment. I need nothing else in this world.

Both Ash and I jump when a sudden loud whistle and applause breaks out in the room. There's a crowd gathered in the doorway, cheering us on. I glare at them. Ash blushes furiously.

I look over my shoulder and see that Teagan is also clapping. She mouths to me, 'I love you,' and then grins impossibly wide. I smile back. That girl...She's just fantastic—half of my whole world.

And the other half?

Ash.