In Serena's eyes, she has kept her profile of being a proud, stubborn and snarky woman so well that she can barely remember the times where she has ever felt helpless. Ever since the moment in the fitting room where she was stuck taking off her new dress and needed Ash's help, she thought that day is the only thing that will ever come close to feeling truly helpless for the first time in a very long time. However, fate decided not to be as kind as two weeks later, she wakes up and realizes that today is the day that Calem leaves for Kanto. The realization hit her so bad that she hid under the covers of her bed, refusing to face this dreadful day until the alarm on her phone goes off telling her to get out of bed and go to Calem's apartment to say goodbye before one of his co-workers drives him to the airport. Calem offered Serena to go with him to the airport, but Serena insisted on saying goodbye at his home, saying it would be better for her.

Serena fights the urge to cry as she reluctantly gets out of bed, gets dressed as walks over to Calem's apartment. By the time she makes it to the front door, Calem opens it before she knocks and the two of them embrace without saying a word. Calem calmly rubs his girlfriend's back as he feels Serena's tears falling on his suit.

"What time are you leaving?" she whimpers.

"My co-worker, Trevor will be picking me up in about fifteen minutes which should be enough time to make sure I have everything and say our goodbyes," Calem answers sadly.

Serena tightens her hug on her beloved boyfriend as if maybe holding on to him for dear life might prevent him from leaving.

"I don't want you to go," she finally admits. "I really don't want you to go. I want you to stay with me."

"I wish I could, baby," Calem says soothingly before he breaks the hug and gives her a toothy smile. "But hey, think of it this way; I'll come home on October 12th, just a whole week before your birthday. That means we'll have more than a week to get everyone together and throw a big party just to celebrate your birthday and my return...assuming you don't keep me hostage in your apartment and force me to hug and kiss you endlessly the whole time I'm back."

Serena chuckles through her tears and says, "I can't guarantee I won't, going all fugue if pure cuteness."

Calem's grin grows as he wipes the tears from Serena's face.

"That's my girl, never hesitating to speak her mind," he says.

On the inside, Serena's heart is breaking even more as she realizes that she didn't wholeheartedly speak her mind to Calem for the first time when he told her about the position and now she's going to suffer for it. Finally, the two of them break their embrace and go back inside to make sure Calem has everything for the next 12 minutes. Finally, they exit the apartment and Calem looks at his suitcase, satisfied until something enters is mine

"Ah yes, I almost forgot," Calem says as he takes out an envelope from his jacket pocket and hands it over to Serena. "This is an open ticket to Cerulean City. It's a six and a half hours flight. It's already paid for so you can use it whenever you want. Even if it's just for a weekend. Even if it's just for a day. Even if it's just for a kiss."

Serena takes the envelope and stares at. A small smile enters her face knowing that she has a chance to visit Calem and she doesn't hesitate to leap into his arms and kiss him passionately. Calem wraps his arms around her and kisses her back, but stops the moment they hear a car honking.

"Ah, that must me Trevor already," he says. "I gotta go."

"No," Serena begs in mid-kiss, grabbing Calem by his jacket.

"Baby, I'm sorry, I gotta go," Calem says, gently pulling Serena away. "I need to catch my flight."

"Please, don't go," Serena weeps, trying to sound commanding. "You have to stay with me."

"I can't," Calem says sadly as he successfully pulls Serena away from him.

Serena stares at Calem brokenhearted, as he turns around, grabs his suitcase and gives her one last sad look and says, "I love you," before he leaves. She stands by his front door all alone and hears him get in the car and it drives away before she completely breaks into tears, hugging herself.

**************************************************************************************************

For the next month, Serena has been struggling to keep her snarky attitude with her beloved boyfriend gone. Ever since then, Serena has the envelope containing the open ticket to Cerulean City and the address to the apartment complex where Calem is staying magnetized to her refrigerator door. When she's not working or hanging out with Ash or her other friends, she stays at home and does almost nothing but stare at the ticket and address untouched.

It also doesn't help that she close to never gets an opportunity to text let alone call Calem. Whenever she tries to find the opportunity to talk to him and ask how he's doing if for no real reason than just to hear his voice, he's always too busy at work or is traveling all over Kanto. Every text reply or voicemail message is nothing but Calem saying "Hey, sorry, I'm at Viridian City/Saffron City/Gardenia Town/Laramie Village/Lavender Town/Saffron City, etc." The only comfort for her are the times when she gets a postcard from wherever Calem has gone and she reads and rereads everything he has to say about the particular place or what friends he made or how he finally got his cast off his arm and how creepy it looks. Every card she gets becomes both a joy and a pain for Serena as it's the only thing that comes close to even having a conversation with her boyfriend anymore.

Meanwhile, Ash has been struggling with his feelings for Serena more than ever. Every moment with her no matter how snarky she is makes him feel happy. It even warms his heart to know that even though they are just friends, Serena has been appreciating her time with him even more as their get-togethers appear to be one of the very few things that are comforting her with Calem gone. But even with that said, it still pains Ash to see through her teasing and remarks that she feels lost with her boyfriend gone. On top of that, he still wishes he didn't have a desire to try to break Serena and Calem up for his own selfish reasons.

Finally, he decides to visit Brock and talk to him about it. The two of them agree to meet up for lunch and Brock and Holly's house which Ash instantly regrets the moment he enters their home and finds Brock sitting down in front of the dining table while Holly sits on his lap and they vigorously make out. Brock gestures him to sit down while a tray of chimichangas are heating in the oven and Ash reluctantly obeys and sits down to uncomfortably hear Brock and Holly moan and breath heavily as they move their lips against each other ferociously as if their faces are at war with each other.

"Oh, I love you so much I want to just rip off your arms and legs and carry you around in my purse all day," Holly groans in pleasure.

"I love you so much I want to grind up your muscles and organs and bones and spread you on toast," Brock manages to say with Holly's lips covering his mouth.

"Oh, I love you so much I wanna just cut you open and scoops all your insides and wear your skin around town like an Allan-suit," Holly moans.

Ash whimpers quietly as the unbearable moment of affection between his best friend and his girlfriend seem to go on for an eternity. He starts to think about leaving without a word until Holly and Brock finally finish their makeout session and look at each other with satisfied looks in their eyes before Holly gets off Brock and takes her purse.

"Right, gotta go to work," she says with a pleased grin. "Bye, Ash."

"Bye, Holly," Ash says, letting a big sigh of relief as Holly leaves. By the time she's out the door, the oven timer rings and Brock takes out the tray piled with chimichangas and brings them over to the dining table with an excited look in his eye. Ash bites his lip as Brock lays the tray at the center of the table.

"Uh...can I talk to you about something, Brock?" he asks.

Brock looks at him for a moment before he sits down, slams the oven mitten he was wearing to the ground and looks at the food feeling pumped.

"Look at this, bro," he says. "I just experienced the most epic makeout session in the history of mankind and I'm about to eat chimichangas. This is going to be the greatest moment of my young life unless you screw it up right now with whatever it is you're about to say."

Ash hesitates before he says, "It's... about Serena."

"Dude," Brock says with a look of disgust. "She's my cousin. That's like incest."

"What? How?" Ash asks confused. "She's not my cousin."

"Yeah, but you're like a brother to me, so it's like my brother asking me on how to incestuously date my cousin," Brock replies.

"What? No, that's not what I meant," Ash protest. "I mean come on, she has a boyfriend."

"Yeah, no duh, Sherlock," Brock rebukes. "He's been coming over for Thanksgiving and Christmas for the past five years."

The two best friend stare at each other before Brock sighs and picks up a chimichanga from the tray and a moldy banana from the fruit basket laying next to it.

"Let me break it down for you, Ash," Brock says. "This perfect chimichanga is Calem. He works at the United Regions as an expert in international copyright law. This moldy banana is you. I have no idea what you do because every time you tell me I fall asleep."

Ash groans in annoyance and says, "You know full well that I write user manuals for dedicated purchasing software -"

Brock interrupts his rebuttal by pretending to be asleep and snores loudly.

"Okay, fine!" Ash says waving his hands in the air. "What does that matter though? Copyright is not that exciting either."

"Yeah, but at least he's an expert on something unlike you," Brock says. "When you're not daydreaming about snuggling with my cousin, you're moping about how there are no people in the world who want your advice or any subject including me. Calem, on the other hand, has been dating Serena for five years. They both have their own apartment. Serena even has a cat. You? You don't even have a poster or a plant in your bedroom up Dawn's attic. You've also been single since that slut-a-tron, Miette broke your fragile little heart."

"Okay, you know what? I was the one who did the dumping there," Ash points out. "She was the one who wanted to stay together and work things out, I said no, so I dumped her."

"Of course you did," Brock rebukes. "You're so afraid of conflict that you'd end a relationship if you and a girl just got into a fight about food or something."

Ash groans childishly and says, "You know what? I get it. It's fine. She's in a relationship, so nothing's going to happen, so don't even make a fuss about it."

Brock frowns and crosses his arms as Ash quietly takes a chimichanga and puts it on his plate.

"You totally killed my make out chimichanga high."

Thus the two of them eat their burritos quietly until there is nothing left. They talk about other things for a while before Ash decides to head home. Ash walks with a frown on his face as Brock was of little help to him over how to handle his feelings in any way. The shy man has a gloomy look on his face as he makes it to Dawn's house and enters before he feels his phone vibrating. He takes it out or his pocket and is surprised to see that Serena is calling him. He silently wonders what is up before he answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ash, do you have anything planned tonight?" Serena asks.

"Um...nothing special," Ash admits. "I was just thinking of getting some dinner later and -"

"Not anymore," Serena interrupts.

Ash looks confused until he hears a car honking from the other side of the front door. He opens it to find a yellow cab parked right in front of the house and the back window rolling down to reveal a smirking Serena on her phone.

"Get in, Ketchum, we're going drinking," she calls out.

Ash looks nervous, uncomfortable about the idea of drinking. However, he has never been one to disobey Serena when she bluntly commands something and he's always down for spending time with her, so he reluctantly shrugs, puts away his phone and gets in the cab.

"Alright, driver, off to 39th and Keith," Serena orders.

The driver nods and starts driving away as Ash puts on his seatbelt.

"What's in 39th and Keith?" He asks.

"This cool bar called Seb and Mia's," Serena answers. "Calem and I went there a few times when we started dating. It's pretty fun."

"Uh, okay," Ash says nervously. "Speaking of which, how are you holding up?"

Serena winces, making Ash regret asking until she shakes her head and answers.

"That's why we're drinking tonight," she says. "Our hangouts are basically the highlights of my social life with my Calem gone, so I felt like drinking and decided you're coming with me.

"Oh, okay," Ash says. "I should warn you I rarely go out to drink, though."

"Seriously?" Serena ridicules. "Do you even have a preference?"

"Uh...hard lemonade and Apple cider?" Ash says with a sheepish grin.

Serena shakes her head in disappointment.

"Well, that's just something we'll have to remedy tonight, isn't it?" She says before giving Ash a playful smirk. "Maybe help you find true love while at it."

Ash blushes at the idea.

"I don't think that's such a -" he begins.

"Nope, my mind is made up," Serena interrupts. "Before the night is done, I'm gonna find your one true love and we'll be heading home with the two of you making out like Brock and Holly."

Ash's blush grows at the idea, but he keeps his uncomfortable smile as he knows better than to try to change the stubborn honey blonde woman's mind.

***********************************************************************************************

By the time the cab makes it to Lumiose City, it is already night time. Serena pays the driver before she and Ash enter the club. Ash covers his ears for a few minutes to get used to the loud music, making Serena roll her eyes. The two of them squeeze their way to the counter where Serena orders two shots from the bartender. The bartender hands then their shots and Serena hands Ash his with a determined look.

"Alright, no pauses and no hesitation, Mr. Ketchum," she says. "Bottoms up on the count of three. Got it?"

"Yeah, got it," Ash answers nervously.

"Alright, get ready," Serena commands. "One, two, three, go!"

Ash shuts his eyes as he and Serena drink their shots. It isn't long before Ash coughs violently and Serena makes disgusted faces.

"Oh my gosh, that was the most horrible thing I ever had in my mouth," Ash whines.

"Blegh, horrible and cheap," Serena agrees, sticking out her tongue.

She pats Ash's pack until he manages to stop coughing.

"Alright, now that we have your first shot out of the way, it's time to go lady hunting," Serena says. "Do you see anyone you like in this club?"

Ash stutters uncomfortably, wishing it wasn't Serena of all people asking him about other women. He pretends to look around before he answers.

"Not really. I don't think anyone I like would come here,". He says.

"You are here, Ash," Serena states.

"Because you made me," Ash protests.

"Doesn't matter, there has to be someone in here for you," Serena says determinedly as she looks around the bar. "Hey, what about her? She's pretty."

Ash turns around to see a beautiful tall woman with long red hair and wearing a plain black dress talking to one of the bartenders. Ash mentally admits her affection but decides to hide it for the sake of any chance he has with the woman he likes.

"Yeah, I guess she's good-looking," he says scratching the back of his head.

"Oh don't sugarcoat it you little goof, she's super pretty," Serena rebukes. "Why don't I go over there and tell her all about your little shy guy personality."

"N-no, please don't," Ash says in a panicking voice. "I think it's better if she hears that from me."

"Well, if you really think that way, then get a move on," Serena says pushing him toward the red-haired woman.

Ash grows uneasy as he reluctantly walks toward the tall woman in order to avoid getting ridiculed by Serena again. He takes a deep breath before he walks over to the woman and taps her on the shoulder, making her turn her head to face him.

"H-h-hi," Ash says bashfully. "Um...may I say you have amazing teeth."

In his head, the raven-haired man is horrified he suddenly said something like that. But the woman just stares at him for a moment before giving him a big smile.

"Thank you," she coos.

"Uh, you're welcome," Ash says with a goofy grin. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Aw, that's very sweet. Thank you," the woman says sweetly.

Ash neediness more confident and gestures the bartender to give the woman a drink. As the bartender gives her the drink, however, Ash looks down to take a twenty dollar bill and by the time he looks up, the woman has already walked away with her drink. The bartender laughs out loud as he snatches the money from Ash's hand.

"You're gonna need some water for that burn, little guy," the bartender teases. "That's the saddest thing I've seen in this bar in ages."

Ash frowns sadly until he feels Serena's arm around him and finds her giving the bartender a hard glare.

"Hey, you leave my buddy alone," she rebukes. "It's not his fault she turned out to be a humongous cow."

Ash blushes lightly and looks at Serena feeling touched by her coming to his defense. The bartender, however merely smirks at the two of them.

"You can defend him all you like, lady, but I don't see him getting anyone's number any time soon," he mocks.

"Oh I don't know," Serena says smirking. "With such an adorable face like his, I'm sure he'll get more numbers than you ever will."

Ash looks away from the bartender and Serena to hide his blush growing more while the bartender frowns.

"That because I can't take anyone number because it's club policy," he counters.

Serena's smirk grows and mockingly says, "Not our problem," before she bites her thumb at the bartender, takes Ash's hand and leads him back to their side of the counter.

"Y-you didn't have to do that, Serena," Ash says bashfully.

"Says who?" Serena rebukes. "That guy was a jackass through and through. He probably never had a serious relationship a day in his life."

Ash smiles appreciatively at the honey blonde woman until a thought enters his mind.

"You know, speaking of which, how many serious relationships have you had?" He asks.

Serena looks at Ash taken aback before she scratches her chin and then answers, "I'd say about four. Let's see there was Drew from high school, and then there was Ryan and Trenton before Calem and then Calem. How about you?"

"Uh...six?" Ash answers with a sheepish grin.

"Six?" Serena shouts surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, let me think," Ash answers. "My first love was this orange-haired girl named Misty from high school back in Kanto, then Melody the summer after high school, then May, Salvia and somehow Iris during college and since then there was Courtney since. Wait, that's not true. Courtney then Miette, so that actually makes seven."

"Seven serious relationships," Serena says with a smug grin. "My, my, my, Mr. Ketchum. You are a hit with the ladies. That cow doesn't know what she lost."

Ash sheepish grin grows before Serena speaks again.

"So are you usually a dumped or dumpee?" She asks.

"Um...statistically speaking, I'm a dumper," Ash answers. "It's not that I've never been dumped, it's just that I'm very good at knowing when to get out. I think I can say that anyway. You?"

"Nope," Serena says proudly. "I always try to make it work."

Ash smiles at her determination when Serena takes his hand again.

"Alright, enough about our love lives. Let's dance," she announces.

Ash's eyes widen and he tries to say something against her plan before Serena pulls him away from the counter and leads him to the dance floor. Serena finds an empty spot in the sea of people dancing and drags Ash there before she joins in. Ash shyly begins moving his feet back and forth awkwardly while the woman he crushes on begins jumping up and down and shaking her body to the beat. Ash finds himself staring at Serena as she dances energetically. He smiles as he admires her enthusiasm before Serena suddenly takes both of his hands.

"Dance with me, Ketchum!" she commands with a smile.

Ash tries to say something again before Serena pulls his arms and leads him to a dance. Ash struggles to keep up with Serena before he begins to smile and happily dance along.

After a couple of hours of dancing and taking a couple more shots, the two of them decide to head home.

"So, did you have fun, Ash?" Serena asks.

"Actually yes," Ash says smiling. "I haven't gone to a bar in a long time and I thought I was going to hate that, but that was surprisingly painless."

"Good," Serena says pleased before she pouts. "I hate that you didn't get to find true love though."

Ash chuckles sheepishly before he says, "Yeah, well you can't have it all."

The two of them walk down the street until they find a cab to take them back to Vanille town. The two of them sit in the back in silence until Serena speaks again.

"So..." She begins. "What's the worse thing that's ever happened to you, Ash?"

Ash frowns sadly.

"Well...the worst thing that's ever happened to me is also the best things that's ever happened to me," he answers reluctantly. "It's basically what happened between me and Miette."

Serena frowns and quickly says, "We don't have to go into -"

"No, it's okay," Ash interrupts. "I wanted to tell you sooner than later."

Serena looks at her friend sadly as Ash takes a deep breath and tells his story.

"It was about four years ago when we met," he begins. "I recently broke up with Courtney as she was moving to Johto while I stayed here to go to medical school. I didn't make friends with my peers and no one really paid any mind to me as we kind of only needed each other as a means to pass our classes. But then there's this blue-haired woman who is in all of my classes that I notice staring at me at a distance with her incredible orange eyes. I wasn't sure what to think except for how whenever we would look at each other, she would give me the sweetest smile I have ever seen. We never said a word to each other or had any group projects together at this point, and yet she loved to give me this heartfelt look as if she's looking at the most wonderful thing in the world and it just happens to be me."

Serena can't help but smile a little as Ash continues.

"It wasn't until during the second semester of our first year in school that I finally gained the courage talk to her and find out that her name is Miette. Slowly yet surely, we began to talk more until she made the move to ask me out. Within the week, I enjoyed her sweet company so much that I made the move to kiss her and she was quick to passionately kiss me back as if my lips made her heart leap for joy. For the next two years, everything felt like nothing but pure bliss. When we weren't in class keeping things professional, we were in each other's arms to no end. I can't think of a day around that time where I didn't wake up excited to see her and tell her that I love her and to hear her tell me that she loves me more. She knew everything about me and I knew everything about her. I think even though had gotten serious before with six other girls, Miette was the first girlfriend where I would say to myself that I was truly happy with her."

Ash sighs heavily as his mind drifts to the memories he made with his ex-girlfriend. Serena looks at her friend sadly as she wonders what could have happened to end what sounds like a wonderful relationship. Finally, Ash snaps out of his thoughts and continues with a solemn look on his face.

"But then, of course, it ended," he says. "It was during the second semester on our third year of medical school. Miette and I were taking this anatomy class at the same time but at separate rooms. Then one day, I was asked to go to the Medicine Room to grab a certain serum by my professor but when I came in, I found Miette making out with another one of our other professors."

Serena gasps softly in shock.

"Really?" She asks.

"Really," Ash answers. answers. "He had both of his hands on her cheeks and her arms were wrapped around him and they were both quietly moaning in pleasure. I didn't cry or scream or anything. I just stood there brokenhearted. They didn't even notice I was there until I dropped my binder. When they turned to face me, Miette looked horrified to see me, but before she could say a word, I ran away. I hear her screaming out her pleas to me, but it was no use. I just ran out of the building and kept going until I found an alleyway where I knew Miette couldn't find me and just bawled my eyes out."

Serena looks at Ash sadly, pity filling her heart for what happened to him over a year ago.

"But how was it also the best thing?" she asks.

"Because as much as her betrayal tore me apart, it made me realize how much we were like my parents," Ash says. "We were almost doctors and already we started cheating on each other. I mean she knew who I felt about the matter with my parents and how much I am disgusted with both of them for being unfaithful to each other and yet the one person I thought I could trust became as unfaithful as they were. So that's when I decided I don't want to be a doctor anymore and so got out of there. Miette did everything she could to talk to me, but she basically never got a word from me ever again until we bumped into her after Calem fell out of the window. So through that realization, the worst thing that has ever happened to me is also the best thing."

Serena frowns at Ash's explanation and asks, "Did you ever wish you tried to work things out?"

Ash doesn't say a word to the honey blonde woman for a minute before he answers.

"Sometimes," he admits. "She left a voicemail on my phone claiming that there's an explanation and she still loves me and every now and then I would reply it and either be angry with her or feel tempted to call and hear her out, but in the end all I would feel is pain and bitterness for her destroying everything we had and over time I started to love her less and less. And yet I never truly let her go until I finally deleted her message the night I met you and I feel so much better since then because of it."

Serena gives him a sad smile. She takes his hand and squeezes it to comfort her friend.

"Well, I'm glad you were able to let go of her eventually, Ash," she says. "Letting go of an ex like that is hard to do on your own. Plus, technically by helping you move on, I get to be a part of the best thing that's ever happened to you, right?"

"Uh...yeah, I guess you do," Ash says.

Serena smiles brightly before they look away from each other to watch the cab enter Vanille Town. As Ash looks through the window, however, he frowns sadly as he begins to think about what Serena said and his heart begins to realize that he was wrong. The best thing that ever happened to him wasn't realizing what happened between him and Miette and moving on, the best thing was having Serena and to his life.

After a few minutes, the cab makes it to Serena's apartment building and Serena pays the cab driver as she and Ash exit the car. As the cab driver drives away, Ash decides to ask Serena one more question.

"So, what is the worst thing that's ever happened to you?" he asks.

Serena frowns sadly and hesitates to answer for a moment.

"My dad died when I was little," she says, making Ash's heart sink. "He had colon cancer. There's nothing worse than a feeling of everything you love may be taken away from you just like that. Makes you don't want to forget anything good in your life, you know?"

Ash makes a guilty frown and asks, "Can I change my answer? Because now I feel like the worst thing that's ever happened to me is you talking about someone you love dying of cancer while I went on about my pathetic relationship drama."

Serena giggles silently and pats Ash on his shoulder.

"It's all good, Ash. I like your answer," she says. "Plus, I get to be a part of both the best thing and the worst thing that's ever happened to you, so that's cool."

Ash chuckles lightly and says, "Also for future reference, when the worst thing that's ever happened to you is your dad dying of cancer, you should definitely go first."

Serena chuckles again and says, "Thanks for the advice."

"No, worries," Ash says with a small smile.

The two of them stare at each other for a moment before Serena sighs and pulls Ash into a hug.

"Thanks for going drinking and dancing with me," she says softly.

"Thank you for making me," Ash replies as he hugs her back.

Serena snickers at his reply as she breaks the hug and gives Ash a grateful smile before she enters her apartment building. Ash sighs before he begins the walk back to Dawn's house with a small smile on his face. He walks her only a few minutes, however, what he feels his phone vibrating and it takes it out to see that Brock is calling him. He stares at his phone curiously before he answers it.

"Hello?"

"Ash. What's up, my brother?!" Brock shouts, making Ash move his phone away from his ear. "I got you on speaker, little buddy cause Holly's here too."

"Hey, Ash!" Holly's voice calls out.

"Uh, hey, Holly," Ash says as he rubs his ear. "What's up?"

"We got big news for you, buddy," Brock says enthusiastically. "The greatest news you will ever hear in your life."

"And that you be?" Ash asks.

Ash hears the two of them giggle in excitement before they simultaneously shout, "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!"