I sat by Jesse's bed all night again, but she was quiet, and eventually I slept too. In the morning Ash and Misty came in to try to get me to eat some breakfast. At that point Jesse's eyes opened, and she said, "What exactly is going on here? I was having some kind of nightmare and now I'm waking up to Ash and Misty?"
I almost laughed. She was so obviously back to herself. I explained a little of what had happened, but she did seem to have some memories after the attack. Unfortunately she also remembered most of her nightmares, and she did seem sad and serious.
"I thought about things and people that I hadn't seen for a long time," she said to me. "It was horrible. But when I would look up and see you there, I knew I was all right."
Eventually she decided she would also get up and go to breakfast. At the table I decided I needed to explain about the baby kyuumu before she saw it herself.
"It wasn't really your fault, Jesse, and you know that. You don't really have to take on this responsibility."
She shook her head. "Well, I guess I've got a kyuumu now after all," she said. "I just hope this one is safe."
"It won't be grown up for a long time," said Meowth. He was sitting in the corner with the kyuumu beside him.
"Well, I'm keeping it in any case. But I don't know how well it will do in our apartment."
Anne interrupted at that point. "Maybe you should stay here for a while. There are lots of empty houses and it doesn't cost much to live out here. You could grow some of your own food like I do."
"I don't think I'm a farmer," said Jesse. "But staying here for a while might work out. I was starting to hate the city."
Anne continued to talk. "What I'm concerned about is that genken. Ever since they've come into this area I've been worried that people would try to capture them. But they're just all desire and self, they don't take training."
Jesse looked thoughtful. "The boss would be really interested in something like this."
"You can't do that!" shouted Ash. "I thought you were out of Team Rocket. You should give it to Professor Oak if you're not going to keep it!"
"I can do whatever I want!" snapped Jesse.
I put my hand on her shoulder. "Do you know what you want to do?"
"Yes," she said. "I think Anne is right. I'm going to let it go. It's not like abandoning it. It was never really my Pokemon anyway."
She looked at Ash. "Professor Oak doesn't need it either."
That afternoon Jesse and I took the genken near to where we had found it and let it out of the Pokeball. Jesse had Arbok and out of its pokeball already in case the genken decided to attack her. It snarled but stayed back from us.
"You don't want to be anyone's pokemon," Jesse said to it. It gazed at her, then ran off into the hills.
"I know I made the right decision," she said.
"You have other decisions to make too," I said.
"I decided I do want to stay here for a while," she said. "Meowth won't mind, he's pretty attached to that kyuumu. Meowth is one weird pokemon sometimes."
"And do you want me to stay also?" I asked.
She looked surprised. "I was counting on it, James. Don't you want to stay?"
Now I had to say some things I had waited a long time to say. "I want to stay, but not as your roommate."
"What do you mean?" she asked. But I could tell by the look on her face that she knew what I meant.
I said it anyway, "You must realize I'm in love with you, Jesse."
She turned away from me, and I felt like I was suddenly empty. What was I going to do if she didn't love me? "Jesse, if you don't want this, then I'm sorry." I wasn't sorry I had said anything, I had to say something. But I was sorry that everything had been ruined this way.
"James, I do you love you, but... it scares me," she said.
Suddenly I had hope again. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Do you really think I'll hurt you, after all these years?"
"No," she said. It's myself I'm afraid of. Because I love you too, but I might hurt you somehow, and make everything horrible. You know I'm capable of it."
"If you hurt me, I'll be angry, but I'll still love you."
"You're not afraid of me?" she asked.
I looked into her eyes. "I'm impressed by you. And I respect you. And I trust you."
Then finally I kissed her. I had always thought if I kissed her it would seem like a dream, but this was very real.
"I do love you, James," she said then. "And, I respect you, even if I have a hard time showing it."
We just stood for a while then, holding each other. We kissed until it started getting dark and we had to go back.
We had a little wedding, up there in the mountains. Jesse borrowed a dress from Anne, and we said some private vows. We and I planted a rosebush in memory of her mother.
I didn't want those kids involved, but they stayed around anyway. We let Misty throw confetti at us and giggle. Brock made a move to kiss the bride but in the end he didn't have the nerve.
We still have plans. Training the kyuumu is an interesting idea. Maybe someday we really will be gym leaders after all. But that doesn't seem as important as what we have now.