Serena POV

My path to the Ketchum's penthouse was unhindered this time around. After having to wait for the train which has finally arrived for more than hour. I traveled through transport and here I am. In front of a penthouse. Like last time but only different.

I secretly walk through the opened steel gate without anyone noticing me, went around the water fountain and entered inside penthouse. The wooden double door was unlocked so I went in without knocking.

When I did. Dracula was nowhere to be seen as I walked into the lobby and met the Ketchum's doorman, who rode up to the penthouse with me, chatting about a football team called Barcelona winning against Real Madrid.

I think Dracula was probably sleeping in his coffin, waiting for dusk so he could fly around Manhattan, bringing terror and doom to the city. Call me paranoid, but I strongly suspected the bat which had been hanging outside my window lately wasn't really a bat, if you know what I'm saying.

Mr. Cilan, the butler, met me at the front door like last time. His face brightened in recognition.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," he said gravely, stepping aside to let me in.

"Hey, Mr. Cilan. How's it going?" I asked, entering through the door and sniffed at the air discreetly. It smelt amazing! Whatever air freshener the Ketchum's used, I wanted it.

"It's going as well as can be expected, ma'am," Mr. Cilan answered in his clipped accent. I bit back a smile.

"I'm here to see Ash. Is he in?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't too late.

After school, Dawn had dragged me to primark to shop for a dress to wear to the gala she was going to. I finally managed to get away at 4pm, safe in the knowledge that Ash and I hadn't exactly confirmed what time we were meeting.

Mr. Cilan nodded slightly, closing the door behind me. "As a matter of fact, he is, ma'am. I'll announce your arrival right away."

I shook my head before he even finished his sentence.

"No, please don't announce my arrival." I nervously pulled on my skirt as Mr. Cilan gave me a slightly puzzled look. "I get self conscious,' I explained, feeling like an idiot. Yes, it's true, I hate being in the spotlight.

"As you wish, ma'am," Mr. Cilan said, inclining his head towards me. He's probably thinking, 'this chick is loco'. He stood straight and motioned "Follow me, please. I'll take you to Master Ketchum."

"You know, if you're not going to call me Serena, at least call me Miss Yvonne," I told him as I trotted along beside him, heading past each doors. "Ma'am makes me feel so old."

He nodded with a faint smile touching his lips. "Very well, ma'am- Miss Yvonne."

He led the way to a different part of the penthouse than I was in last time as I tagged along, whipping my head from right to left like a metronome, trying to look at all the paintings and portraits on the wall. The penthouse was huge! I wondered how many rooms it had. Our apartment had 6 bitterly small rooms but I felt a bit stupid comparing it to this. I mean, you could actually get lost in here!

The wide hall opened out into a large, airy room which was infinitely more welcoming than the parlor. That could have been because of the cheerful fire burning in the fireplace, or it could have been because of the laughter coming from Ash, who was lying on his back on sofa, with a little girl he was tickling mercilessly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Cilan open his mouth. presumably to announce my arrival, even though I asked him not to. So I waved a hand to stop him. I didn't want to ruin Ash's good time. And he looked like he was having a good time, even though he had laughed at me when I said I worked at a daycare.

Ash must've seen the motion or heard us come into the room because he pulled himself up to a sitting position, yanking the giggling girl on his lap and grinned at me.

"Hey, Sere, you made it!" he exclaimed, sounding delighted.

Mr. Cilan bowed slightly and backed out of the room as I inched closer to Ash, standing in front of him.

"Hey, Ash. Sorry I'm a little late. We didn't give each other a concrete time to meet and Dawn wanted my help in picking out a dress for the gala..."

My voice trailed off as I pinched my arm to stop myself from rambling.

Luckily, Ash didn't notice that I hadn't said anything of substance. Or maybe he noticed and was just acting like he didn't to be polite.

He glanced down at his silver wristwatch then looked up at me. "That's okay. I didn't even notice the time," he admitted, biting his bottom lip as he smiled. "Leaf was keeping me busy, weren't you?"

He tickled the little girl again and she giggled hard, wriggling on his lap.

So this is Leaf. I had no idea that Ash had a little sister and the little girl had to be his sister. Their hair was different and they had identically adorable grins on their faces. Anyway, I was sure that Ash wasn't the babysitting type. I would have known he had a sister if I was a member of his fan club.

"Ash, stop," Leaf giggled, twisting her body away from Ash's fingers. She eyed me curiously and smiled shyly. "Hi."

I smiled back at her. I loved kids, they always made me feel happy. "Hey, there. What's your name?"

"I'm Leaf. I'm six years old," she told me, resting her chin in her palm as she looked at me. "What's your name?"

"My name is Serena."

Ash snorted with laughter. "Wow, she handles introductions better than I do," he said, smoothing her hair with a proud look on his face. "She's my baby sister."

"She looks like you," I said.

"Really?" Raising an eyebrow. Ash looked down at Leaf, hugging her shoulders. "I always thought she was way better looking than me, though."

Leaf smiled adoringly at her brother, reaching up to pat his z-marks cheeks with her chubby small hands. I couldn't help but smile at the two when they did this.

"You're a cutie," she assured him, saying the words I barely even dared to think. She looked up at me again, her forehead creasing. "Are you Ash's girlfriend?"

My ocean eyes widen as I opened my mouth then closed it shut, taking a swallow. I glanced at Ash, who was laughing silently. Trusting a little kid to put me on the spot like that. What an awkward question! I cleared my throat, feeling the heat rise on my cheeks. "Um, no. I'm just a friend."

"Ash doesn't bring girls who aren't his girlfriends home," Leaf continued, a serious look on her childish face.

"Oh," I replied slowly, as Ash laughed louder. I noticed that he wasn't disproving anything that his sister was saying.

So if the only girls he brought home were his girlfriends then did that mean-no way, Serena! That's stupid. I mentally shook my head to clear the cobwebs. Stupid. Don't even think about that.

"You're pretty," Leaf said, rubbing her nose.

I smiled. That was something I didn't hear every day. "Thank you, Leaf."

Soon. A small, heavyset woman in blue bustled in. Which interrupted our conversation. "Time for your nap, Leafy," she said in a English accent.

"Aw!" Ash and Leaf said in unison, Ash managing to sound even more childish than the four year old.

"Five more minutes!" Leaf pleaded, hiding her face in Ash blue short sleeved jacket that was zipped fully open.

"Yeah, Liv, five more minutes," Ash echoed, winking at me over Leaf head. Obviously, this was something they went through a lot.

"This is the third five minutes you've had," Liv scolded them, her hands on her portly hips. "It's time for Leaf to take a nap."

Leaf looked up at Liv. "But-," she started with a crafty expression on her face.

Liv wagged a finger in Leaf face, reaching down to take her hand as I stood and watched. "No buts, young lady," she said good-naturedly.

Leaf pointed at me. "But I'm talking to her! She's gonna be Ash's girlfriend!"

Say what?

My eyes widened in shock when Leaf said that and I glanced immediately at Ash and caught him glancing at me. He shrugged and grinned as I shuffled my feet, feeling my cheeks burn. Kids do say the darndest things.

"Yeah, Liv, let her stay up for a little bit longer. Missing her nap won't kill her," Ash put in, cradling Leaf in his lap.

Liv turned on him, a mock-fierce expression on her face. "You do remember how cranky she gets if she doesn't sleep in the afternoon, don't you?"

Ash grimaced. "Yikes, you're right," he said, getting up to his feet with Leaf still in his arms and kissed her forehead. "Okay, princess, time for your nap."

Leaf pouted. "Ash!" she said huffily.

"If you go with Liv, I'll read you a story when you wake up," he told her softly, rubbing his nose against hers, seal like.

Leaf let's out a sign. "Okay. But it better be The Little Mermaid," she said firmly.

Ash smiled and hugged her before handing her over to Liv. "Okay, you got a deal," he agreed.

"Humph." Leaf didn't seem too happy with being carted off to take a nap. She waved at me over Liv's shoulder. "Bye, Serena."

"Sleep tight, Leaf," I said with a smile, waving back until they were out of the room, leaving the two of us in. Alone.

Ash turned his head to me. His cola eyes shining with laughter. "You see what I have to deal with? My friends would roast me if they knew I read The Little Mermaid to my sister."

"I think it's sweet," I said shyly, facing him.

He shot me a crooked grin. "Yeah, just one of the perks of being a big brother, I guess. You got sibs?"

Biting my lip, I shook my head hesitantly. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. My Dad had abandoned me when I was just a child and I haven't told my mom. Maybe, in their Serena-less lives, they both had children and were living quite happily without me. I pressed my lips together. I didn't want to think about that.

"No," I simply replied.

Ash nodded. "I think Leaf might be the only person in the world who looks up to me," he mused, rubbing his chin.

"That would be nice." He looked at me with a distracted expression on his face so I elaborated. "Having someone who looks up to you, I mean."

"Yeah, if you're doing the right thing." He stood there for a minute, a serious look was on his face. "I haven't really been the best brother to her lately. But- I'm trying." He sighed and glanced at me. "We should probably get started."

"I'm ready when you are," I said, wondering what was going through his mind. He probably regretted not being a better brother to Leaf, but from what I had just seen, he looked like he was doing a good job of making up for it. Before I could say anything, he turned to me.

"So, I thought you would get a ride with me from school today."

I laughed before I could stop myself. Did he really want the school grapevine to crash. If I was seen getting into Ash Ketchum's limo at school, I would be the target of hate mail, amongst other things.

"No, I had things to do," I told him.

"I would have waited. You may not have noticed but my social life has died down drastically."

"Maybe you're just growing up," I suggested and he chuckled.

"my dad would hope so," he said cryptically, motioning to me to follow him as he walked out of the living room. "C'mon. Let's go to my room and chill."

M-Me in Ash Ketchum's bedroom? If his fan club found out, forget hate mail, they would poison my lunch!

I was glad that he didn't mention anything about Leaf and her 'girlfriend' talk. That would have been awkward. Even though I knew it was just silly babble from a kid, it was still embarrassing for me.

With a flourish, Ash opened the door leading to his room and stood aside so that I could walk in.

"Make yourself comfortable. Hey, you hungry?" he asked, closing the door behind us as I walked further into the neat room.

"No, I'm good," I said while scanning around.

Ash threw himself on his bed, searched on his bedside table untidily, and held up a small notebook. Handing it to me. "Here's my list. Don't laugh," he warned me, leaning against the headboard of his double bed.

I took the book and sat down at the computer desk, facing Ash, who was engrossed in throwing and catching a hackey sack. Pursing up my lips, I scanned his list with a pen in my hand. His writing was small and neat and the goals he had achieved he had written were done next to them. However, one caught my eye.

"You want to bring sexy back?" I had to ask, raising my head to look at him. He grinned, spreading his hands supplicatingly on bed.

"I'm trying!" he answered.

Personally, I thought that he had nailed it. When he wasn't looking, I wrote a small 'done' next to it. He would thank me later.

"Join the mile high club," I read aloud, noting the 'done' written next to it. Ash snorted with laughter and I shook my head. "I'm not even going to ask."

"I told you not to laugh," he rebuked me; flinching as a hackey sack hit him in the face.

"I'm just saying," I grinned. There was still a lot that he hadn't done and I bit my lip. Time to get cracking. "Okay. What do we start with?"

"Hmmm. I'm kinda in a philanthropic mood right now. Okay. Let's find a cause and help out," he decided.

I nodded in responce. Good choice. But there was a slight problem- "Have you ever volunteered before?"

"Yeah, once. I didn't last too long, though. The owner kept flirting with me. It was weird." He laughed sheepishly. "Anyway, I wasn't really thinking of volunteering. I was thinking more like donating some money, maybe help out a charity that needs it?"

I nodded, impressed. "Okay, that's a good idea. What charity did you have in mind?"

He gave me a sly look. "What charities do you like?" he asked, answering my question with one of his own.

I raised my eyebrows. "It's your choice."

Ash shook his head, some of his raven hair falling into his eyes. "No, you choose. I respect your opinion."

I narrowed my eyes, realization seeping in. "You don't know any causes, do you?" I asked.

He laughed, nodding. "Guilty."

"Okay, lets Google some and you can pick one that looks good."

In a rush of movement, he was off the bed and dragging a spare chair over to the computer desk to sit next to me. I tried to ignore the fact that his hand was on the back of my seat, concentrating instead on typing 'small NYC charities' in the Google search bar.

"Wow, there's so many," Ash breathed, his breath fanning my cheek as I gulped nervously down my thrust, trying to keep cool under pressure.

"Let me just scroll down. If you see one you like the look of, just tell me,' I said, using the mouse to scroll down the list of charities. Watching every link go past my eyes.

"Wait, go back up."

"Did you see one?" I asked, fumbling with the mouse. Immediately, Ash placed his lightly tanned hand gently over mine and scrolled up the computer screen with the mouse, his fingers brushing softly over my knuckles. His hand felt warm, almost hot and calloused on top of mine. My eyes shot up to his face with a hot cherry blush rising on my cheeks, searching, but he was focusing on the computer screen.

"I like this one," he said, lifting his hand off from mine and pointing at the screen. Calm down, Serena, he just touched you! That's all!

Completing dazed. I realised that I was looking at him. I shook my head and gaze straight at the screen.

"O-Okay. You wanna- write a c-check?" I asked, unsure. He got to his feet and nodded.

"Precisely."

"I'd like to live a day in your Nike's," I said wistfully of regret. He could just whip out a check book and donate an untold sum to a charity. Meanwhile, I had to work for every cent I got.

He looked at me over his shoulder as he picked up his check book from table beside. "They're Puma's," he said with a grin on his face. "And my life isn't that great these days." Jamming his wallet into the pocket of his grey jeans and straightened. "You ready to go?"

"Sure," I replied, standing up from my seat. "Um- are you just gonna slot it in the mailbox?"

He nodded and my respect for him grew.

"I don't want my name in the newspaper. Can you imagine, people calling me a humanitarian? Hell no. I'd rather be 'a mysterious benefactor'."

I giggled, tensing as he walked over to me and slung an arm around my shoulder. "Shall we?" he asked softly.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak as we walked out of his room, into the hall.

"If you see my dad anywhere around, make a run for it."

I looked up at his face. He seemed perfectly serious, but he couldn't be.

We got into Ash's personal limo and he had the driver to take us to the charity's address while we lounged in the back. I looked around in awe. There was a mini bar in the car. Ridiculous. But still pretty cool.

After dropping off the check or should I say slipping the envelope under the door, which was what we did. Ash offered to get his driver to drive me home which made me hesitate.

"You can just drop me off at the subway," I said. I wasn't embarrassed of where I lived; I just didn't want to know what Alain would do if he saw me being dropped off at home by a limo. And I didn't want to find out.

"You sure?" Ash asked, a frown creasing his forehead.

"You'd probably get lost. Anyway, I like taking the subway."

Ash didn't look too convinced but he agreed to drop me off at the nearest subway.

"So- I heard you live with your Mom?" he asked, once we were back in the car. I nodded.

"My mom and my friend," I told him.

"Is your friend older or younger than you?" he asked, then grinned. "I just realized that I don't know that much about you."

"He's older."

Ash nods, staring at me thoughtfully. He didn't say anything else about my family and I was glad. I just didn't feel like explaining my history to him right there.

"Hey, do you have a cell phone?" A grin appeared on his face as he asked me this and ran a hand through his hair. "God, I'm such a ditz. Who doesn't have a cell phone these days?"

I grinned back. Begged to differ. Alain didn't have a phone, not since he sold his for gin.

"Yeah, I do," I replied. Short silence as Ash stared at me expectantly, then I almost smacked myself on the forehead. He wanted me to give him my number!

"Oh, okay, here's my number," I said, feeling like a ditz too. I wrote it on a piece of paper because Ash said he left his phone at home and handed it to him.

"Thanks." A wicked gleam appeared in his eyes as he added "I promise I won't be waking you up in the middle of the night, crying."

I giggled. "I'm actually pretty good with cry-babies," I joked.

When we arrived. He accompanied me down into the subway, keeping one hand on my back the entire time and staring down the hobo who kept glaring at him. It was sweet, his concern. Nobody was ever concerned about me. My mom was always too busy and Alain- he didn't care about anyone but himself these days. So it was nice that Ash cared enough to even think about escorting me down here.

"Thanks for escorting me down here. You can leave now, I'm safe," I joked, a teasing grin on my face. "My train's coming pretty soon."

Ash gazed down at me, biting his lip. "Thanks, Sere," he said softly and sincerely. "For- today. And for everything. I'm really grateful."

I smiled gratefully. "You're welcome," I said, clutching my book bag closer to me against my chest as a smile rose on my lips.

To my surprise, he spread his arms. "Can I hug you?" he asked, that endearingly shy look on his face again.

Feeling shy myself, I nodded. "Sure."

And I held my breath as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me in care, his hands rubbing up and down my back as he whispered "Thank you," in my ear again.

Being around the guy was a hazard to my health. It wasn't natural that he made me feel so- into him. Not cool.

For a minute. He brushed his lips against my red cheek as he let go. "I'll- see you tomorrow?" he asked.

I nodded, totally forgetting that tomorrow was Saturday.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

He smiled. "Take care."

And he was off, lost in the masses of Kalos populating the subway. And I tried to slow my racing heart, glad that I was Ash's friend. Glad that, for a while, I had forgotten who I actually was and where I would be going tonight.

It was Friday, which meant that Alain would arrive home drunk and that was never good. But at least I had forgotten that, when I had been in Ash's arms.