Delia sat by the couch, watching the boy sleep.

Poor thing. I don't know what that woman did to you, but as long as you're here, I'm going to keep you safe from harm.

Once in a while, the slow, steady breathing would be punctuated by a whimper, and Delia would reach out and gently stroke Brock's head until the whimpering ceased.

Delia jumped as the kitchen door slammed open with a loud bang. She ran into the kitchen and discovered a cursing Professor Oak trying to fix the spring he had just broken on her screen door.

"Samuel, be quiet! Brock's still sleeping and you're going to…" She then saw that his face was red with fury. "Samuel, what's wrong?"

"That conniving, rotten, back-stabbing bitch!" he swore as he gave up trying to fix the door and hurled the spring across the room.

"Samuel? What in the world has gotten into you?" Delia grabbed his arm and led him to the kitchen table. "Sit down. You're starting to scare me."

"I'm sorry, Delia. It's just that I spoke with Professor…" Remembering Brock's reaction from last time, he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

"It's okay, Samuel. Brock's still asleep."

"How is he, by the way?"

Delia nodded in the direction of the living room. "He's been sleeping ever since you left. Anyway, what did she say?"

"You were right, Delia. She did do something to Brock. She didn't come out and say it directly, but I know she harmed him in some way."

"How?"

"Because I saw it in her face. She tried to deny it, but I know that she's guilty." Professor Oak banged his fist on the table. "I can't believe I ever trusted that woman."

"Then what do we do now?"

Professor Oak sighed. "That's the problem. When I accused her of improper conduct, she had the gall to remind me of a similar skeleton in my closet."

Delia was confused. "Similar…? I don't understand, Samuel. What do you mean?"

"Think back twelve years ago, Delia."

Delia pondered his words for a moment and then she realized what he was saying. "Samuel, that happened a long time ago! And both you and I know that you're not Ash's father!"

"I know that and you know that. And hopefully, by now, most of Pallet Town knows that. But even today a few of my colleagues still believe that I was the one who got you pregnant while you were working at my lab."

"Samuel, when Ash's father ran out on me, you were the only one who stood by me." Delia took his hand in hers. "And I'll always be grateful to you for that."

Professor Oak gave her hand a small squeeze. "Thank you, Delia. But you have to admit that the whole situation did and still does look rather suspicious. Teenage lab assistant turns up pregnant, the baby's father is nowhere in sight, and the kindly professor offers the girl a place to stay and takes care of her when her mother throws her out of the house. Why would the good professor go to all that trouble just for one teenage girl? Why indeed?" He smiled grimly. "Unless the good professor happened to be the one that got the girl pregnant."

Delia shook her head. "Samuel, both you and I know that's not the reason why you let me move in with you when I got pregnant with Ash. I had nowhere else to go. And you were the only friend I had then. I don't know what I would've done if it hadn't been for you."

"Thank you, Delia. That means a lot to me. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that most people believed then that the reason I took you into my house was because you were carrying my child. Even today, some people still believe it. Matter of fact, when I was giving a lecture at Celadon University a couple of days ago, I overheard someone say that 'Oak's bastard son' had just won the Orange League championship."

Delia was stunned. "I…I had no idea people were saying things like that about you."

"It doesn't bother me, Delia. I've heard it so often over the years that I just simply ignore it. And most of my colleagues believe my side of the story, which is the most important thing. But even so, I do know that the cloud of suspicion that's hung over my head for years has cost me several important research grants and teaching opportunities."

"But Samuel, you didn't do anything wrong! You could take a blood test to prove that you're not Ash's father!"

"True, that might put a stop to those rumors. But it wouldn't put a stop to the rumors that you and I had an affair. There's no way you can disprove that with a blood test."

"You and I had a….no! Samuel, nothing happened between us when I was working at your lab!"

"Delia, the problem is that the stories have persisted too long. Even if the blood test proved that I wasn't Ash's father, some people will always believe that you and I were sleeping together then just because I took you into my home. And if I accuse Professor Ivy of molesting Brock, she made it clear that no one would believe me based on my past history with you. And the sad truth is that she's right."

"I…I don't believe it. Samuel, there must be something you can do!"

"Think about it, Delia. Would you believe the accusations of improper conduct with a student from someone who has been accused of the same thing?"

"Well, what if I accused her instead of you?"

Professor Oak smiled bitterly. "'Oak's mistress'? The teenage mother of his love child? Unfortunately Delia, they won't believe you either."

Delia flung the teacup that was sitting on the table across the room, shattering it into pieces next to the spring from the screen door. "That bitch!"

"That's exactly what I said," Professor Oak said with a grim chuckle.

"So now what do we do?" Delia said helplessly.

"Well, the first thing is to make sure that Brock gets his health back and stays as far away from Valencia Island and that woman as possible. And as long as he's under your roof, that shouldn't be a problem. Second, if Brock needs a job, I'll take him on as my assistant. He can stay at my place and work for me."

"Oh, speaking of which, I'd better go check on him." Delia got up and went into the next room. "He's still sleeping," she announced a minute later when she returned. "Thank goodness. I was afraid that I woke him up when I threw the cup on the floor."

"I'd better get back to the lab," Professor Oak said, standing up. "And when I come back later, I'll bring you some glue and a new spring for your door."

---

Carrie dodged the coffee cup that had been sent flying in her direction.

"Leave me alone!" Professor Ivy shouted at her terrified assistant. "And if you or any of your sisters disturb me, I'll fire all of you, understand?"

Carrie picked up the broken cup and scurried out of her boss's office as fast as she could.

"Carrie, what's wrong?" asked Mary, who had been waiting outside in the hallway with her sister. They had heard Professor Ivy's shouting all the way down at the other end of the lab.

"She's been drinking again," a shaking Carrie told her sisters. "And she's pissed at me because I was the one who sent for her to answer Professor Oak's phone call. At least she missed me this time." She held out the broken coffee mug.

"Do you think it's true?" asked Terri. "Do you really think she did something bad to Brock?"

During their boss's telephone conversation with Professor Oak, the three had been eavesdropping and had overheard everything.

"I don't know," said Mary. "But I do know that if we let on that we overheard her phone conversation, she'll probably do something bad to us, too."

"Especially when she's got the bottle of booze with her," said Carrie.

"At least she only gets drunk when she's upset about something," said Terri, taking the broken coffee cup from her sister. "I'd hate to be around her if she did this every day."

"Well, let's just leave her alone. At least she won't bother us about the results of the Magikarp experiment for the rest of the day," Mary said.

"Maybe she'll be too hung over tomorrow to remember that we forgot to finish gathering all the data on it," Terri said hopefully.

"I've got an idea. Since she's gonna be holed up in her office getting wasted for the rest of the day, let's take the ferry over to the amusement park at Mandarin Island," Carrie suggested.

"Yeah. Good idea, Sis!" said Mary and Terri in unison.

And the three headed for the beach.

---

On the other side of the door Professor Ivy was in the middle of her third glass of vodka. Professor Oak's phone call had rattled her so much that she needed something to calm herself down.

"That son of a bitch." She knew all too well that her colleague had figured out what she had done to Brock. And if he went public with it, her career as a researcher would be destroyed.

But at least she had had the sense to play her trump card.

"What a hypocrite," she slurred. The look on his face had been worth it. How dare he, the high-and-mighty Professor Oak, accuse her of abusing her student when he himself had knocked up his lab assistant years earlier? He had vehemently denied it, and the university had chosen to believe him based on his outstanding reputation.

Professor Ivy sneered as she took another sip of her drink. "'Outstanding reputation'. What a joke."

Even so, there was still talk of "Oak's bastard son" in the research community even today.

And hopefully, that would be enough to keep him at bay.

He had gotten away with it. And she would, too.

To be continued…