Don't

Chapter 9

By Harmony283

Summary: May, Drew, and Caroline are waiting patiently for the results on May's baby to come back when they hear the news of Max being in an accident. In an effort to calm them both down Drew agrees to go talk with him after he wakes up. Also, who is the one who called Norman and had him on the phone for so long? And will Harley be able to stay hidden from May and Drew?

Authors Notes: This chapter…took such a long time (practically two months) to write, and I'm sorry it's been such a long time since an update. I said I'd be busy, and apparently March and April are the go-to busy months for teachers to pile homework on me. Seriously, I can't count how many tests I've had and all that wonderfulness. Not that that matters now, I finally got out of my rut on this chapter and I finished it up. Special thanks to xDeadPan who was my only reviewer for the last chapter.

Note: Only major change in this is that in the original Norman doesn't tell Max about who it was that called him in the lobby, and he doesn't even get the phone call until the morning after. But since I omitted the entire 'night' scene at the house (which would take place in Chapter 11 or 12) till a later chapter this came early.


Drew's POV

"Wh-what?!" Caroline stood up quickly from her seat on the other side of the room, "Wh-what do you mean Max is here?!" She wasn't even trying to keep her voice down, and now May was trying to stand up as well, but I wouldn't let her do that. My hand squeezed hers and I slowly shook my head. This was something she had to worry about later. The baby came first.

But she looked like she wanted to worry about it now. I couldn't really blame her though, what were the chances of him getting hurt while she was here getting a checkup? Pretty slim chances--that was for sure.

The doctor--a man with blond hair down to his ears and bright yellow eyes covered with glasses--whispered a few more words to Caroline before she slowly sat back down again, "A-Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," the doctor spoke louder, "Your husband--Norman knows. He's out in the lobby, he'll be one of the first to visit Max when he wakes up." He smiled then, but he looked almost stressed about something, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep. It was then that I caught sight of his nametag: Jonah Clow was his name.

Who the heck was named Jonah Clow?

"I'll also be the main doctor taking care of him, I just wanted to come by and tell you also that his condition, as of right now, has stabilized from what it was when he first came here. He's still unconscious though." Normally a doctor would try to sound sympathetic while saying that. But he didn't sound sympathetic, or even that much worried. It was like he already knew what was going to happen to Max--that he was either going to wake up, or he wasn't.

A doctor wasn't supposed to guess like that. They usually ended up wrong anyway. But from the look on both Caroline's and May's face showed me that they needed to hear that. Then again he was an important part of their family--considering how much he could affect them just by not contacting them--and then to have him get so hurt to the point he needed to go to the hospital

"I…yes…th-thank you for telling us." Caroline tried to smile, but it didn't come out right. It also sounded like she wanted to say something more. But before she could, May filled it in for her.

"What happened to him, though?" her hand squeezed mine, "D-Did it have anything to d-do with the earthquake earlier?"

This made him tense, but only for a moment, "Well…yes, unfortunately it did. I don't know the full details, but he," he looked down at the clipboard he had in his hand, "He somehow got electrocuted." Both May and Caroline gasped at that--and even I was shocked. How could someone stabilize that quickly? "But," he seemed to notice how horrible that sounded just by himself, "It was only a small charge, apparently. Most of the charge left his body on the way over here." He glanced at the only clock in the room and then said rather bluntly, "Now I have to leave, to check on other patients. I'll notify you--or your husband--if anything else happens."

Then he turned around and left.

Leaving us here, alone in the room, with nothing to do but wait. Wait for test results to see if the baby was fine, and results on Max's condition.

May squeezed my hand even harder this time before saying softly, "I-I can't believe it. Electrocuted? How could he have gotten--" Caroline made a strangled sound and May immediately shut up. Or at least she stopped talking about that, "Where's dad anyway?" I knew she already knew, but it seemed like a good way to get her, and Caroline's, mind off of what she almost said—of what we just found out.

"I-In the lobby…I-I think." Caroline squeezed the fabric of her dress, "He said he would come by, after all. D-do you think he knows the full details on what happened?"

"I don't know why he wouldn't," I answered, "He could've seen it happen." Crap, that wasn't going to make anything better, and from May's glare I could tell that.

"I-If he really does know, then he'd call mom. They allow cellphones in here, right?" May said, tearing her hateful gaze away from me and focusing a softer one on Caroline.

But Caroline shook her head, "No th-they don't."

"And why not?"

"The Machines." I said, "I know it affects some of 'em. And they can't have that."

May almost glared at me again, but when Caroline nodded her head in agreement she instead looked down at the bed.

It felt like hours almost, before one of us spoke again. But again it was on the same topic, "When do you think he'll wake up?" May asked slowly, still looking down at the bed, "I-I mean, they said he was still unconscious, will he stay that way for a few days o-or…?"

Caroline didn't say anything, just tightened her grip even more on her dress. This wasn't easy for her to talk about, but May wanted to talk about it. I couldn't blame either of them but…

"I can't imagine him being out for more than two days," I reassured May, even though I really hadn't ever been in a situation like this before, "You said before when you traveled with Ash that his Pikachu electrocuted him sometimes, right? And he wound up fine in a few hours, right?"

May nodded her head, "Yeah, but…something tells me this's different."

"I guess it is, but I really highly doubt he'll be here long. He might even wake up today." I tried to reassure her, hoping against hoping that it actually sounded like I meant it.

May let out a sigh and mumbled, "Don't say that unless you're sure about it, Drew." But she didn't sound angry, just…relieved. Or a little tired. Something.

"May, maybe you need to lay down," Caroline noticed it too; "You look a little pale."

May's free hand immediately went to her stomach, "I guess…I am a little. But I wanna see Max when he gets up!"

"I know you do, honey, but we can't leave until you get the results back." Caroline chided, but it didn't sound as strong as it probably should have.

"W-Will you see him for me, then?"

"I-I…want to, but…" Caroline trailed off, looking over at me.

I let out a sigh and nodded my head, "Why don't I just go?" this time I was the one who squeezed May's hand harder, "Just…tell me if anything comes up, okay? If the results get back before then." Which they probably would, if Max didn't wake up, but still…

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Caroline immediately shot up from the chair and opened it, and there standing in the doorway was Jovi. She looked sad--she had been with Max after all, when he got hurt, or at least she had been nearby--but relieved as well.

She walked into the room and smiled, "Hi! I just wanted to, um; see…how the baby's doing? Do you know yet?" she was being blunt, but oddly enough she was being polite about it.

"O-Oh, we don't know yet. But…come in…sit down." Caroline pointed to the only other chair in the room, which was also right next to the bed. Jovi complied immediately and walked over to the chair, sitting down.

"Do you know anything about Max yet?" May immediately asked, making Jovi nearly fall out of her chair. She really shouldn't ask things so quickly.

"Ah…um…" Jovi shifted a bit, looking down at her lap, "Do you know what happened to him? I-I mean, I know someone told you but…" she trailed off, looking from May, to me, to Caroline. But neither Caroline nor May spoke.

So I spoke for them, "We heard he somehow got electrocuted, and that he wasn't awake yet, if that's what you mean."

Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked back down at her lap, "I…I see." She closed her eyes, but only briefly, "But he'll be fine! He'll probably even wake up today!" She was smiling now, and oddly enough she seemed more convincing than that doctor had.

'That's probably because she knows him, though.' I thought as I watched both May and Caroline nodded their heads in agreement.

"We were just talking about g-going to see him, wh-when he wakes up, of course." Caroline murmured softly, "B-But we don't know when that will be so…"

"So it's best you stay here, right?" And suddenly Jovi sounded desperate, or at least her voice did. Her expression was still happy. "Until you know everything, I'm definitely sure they'll tell us, I mean I-I was there when it happened and they wouldn't even let me in to see him."

Now that was interesting.

"They wouldn't?" Both May and me asked at nearly the same time, giving each other side glances before turning our attention back to her.

She just shook her head and said softly, "Nope. I-I doubt they'll let anyone in, unless they're a special case." It almost sounded as if she knew someone was in there with him at this very moment, "They won't let Norman in t-to see him either. Th-then again," she looked at Caroline, "he was talking on the phone earlier…wh-when I walked by him. Was someone supposed to call?"

And now she was trying to change the subject.

--

Max's POV

"You aren't planning on leaving, are you?" I muffled voice asked from the other side of the room, making me suddenly very aware that I was waking up. Waking up but not able to get up. It felt like I was being held down, or at least it felt like I suddenly gained about fifteen or twenty pounds.

"Not until he wakes up," I heard another, more familiar voice closer to me, "I'm not going to leave until then."

The other voice sighed, "Look, I'm only allowed to bring in people who are special cases--y'know, his family. You aren't his family, and once his father gets done talking on the phone he'll want to see him."

"And? You're saying I'm not a special case?" I definitely recognized this voice. It was--

"I'm not saying you aren't--I'm just saying they don't know you are. Do you want them knowing?" I sensed that the person closest to me wanted to say something but was cut off; "Yeah his dad might not recognize you, but what about the others?"

"Look I'll leave when he wakes up. You can stall him a little longer, can't you?" Now the voice next to me sounded on-edge. Like he was almost threatening the other person. There was no doubt in my mind now that I knew who the other person was. No doubt whatsoever.

The farthest voice sighed again, "Fine, fine, just get out right when he wakes up, okay? Are you listening?" I heard the annoyance there, but I also heard the scrapping legs of a chair along the flooring. It seemed like whoever was closest to me was pulling their chair closer.

"Then I guess I'll be leaving soon," the voice—now so familiar, but I still couldn't quite place it—closest to me said before I felt a hand touch my shoulder, "Max? Max you're up, aren't you? It's me, Harley."

That's when I knew I had to force myself awake. He was worried. And he knew I was awake or at least conscious and trying to open my eyes, which was almost the same thing. After a few minutes of just trying, I managed to crack them open. I could faintly see a purple and flesh colored blob hanging over my head. I already knew it was Harley, but the fact that he was there—and so close to me—made me feel like I could open my eyes. Well, at least I could open them even more.

But when I tried to open them any further it felt like I was trying to lift weights, or at least they were weighted down by something. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew they had probably drugged me when I came here, just in case I woke up.

'You weren't even supposed to wake up today.' Gardevoir murmured, her connection was weaker than normal, but then again I was tired, and she was still at the Pokemon center. Or at least I thought she was.

"Max." Harley started again, running his fingers through my bangs, "Good. I wanted you to…wake up while I was here." He let out a relieved sigh before turning to the other man in the room, "Jonah, you might as well call whoever's here in to see him. I highly doubt he wants to be alone now."

I couldn't really be surprised when I heard Jonah's name. It was almost expected for him to be here. He was like our personal doctor, or something. Regardless, what Harley said was true—I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want Harley to leave, like I knew he was going to. He had to leave or else things could get very ugly.

I knew he had even less time with me when I heard the door shut. It would only be a matter of minutes before my dad, mom, or even maybe May or Drew showed up. I tried hard to open my eyes wider, so I could see Harley even more clearly, and it almost worked this time.

"H-Harley…" I called out, feeling him stand up. He stopped midway and sat down again, reaching across the bed to brush the bangs away from my eyes again. Then he gripped my shoulder firmly and squeezed it.

"I have to go." He murmured, "I have your room number, the card to get in it and everything. I'll get your things." For a moment I didn't understand what he was talking about, but he continued, "The hotel actually isn't that far from here. You'll like it when you see it. I'll try to show it to you when you get out, okay? You'll be staying with me for the rest of however long we're here for." He sounded way too serious for his own good, but I knew that what he was saying was half because of doctor's orders and half simply because he wanted me close by.

'Not that I can blame him.' I slowly closed my eyes again, feeling suddenly very tired, 'when we're apart for too long something bad…always…happens…' I tried hard to keep myself conscious, I had to stay conscious. Especially when I felt something press against my forehead. I could guess what it was, but that was dangerous. I couldn't think like that now—if I even could think clearly.

I hadn't even heard the door close but for a few minutes I knew I was alone. But that lasted only a few minutes before the door opened again. "Max?" for a second I didn't recognize the voice, but then I did. It was Drew.

Wait, why was Drew here?

"You're probably wondering why I'm here." Obviously, since I did just ask myself that. "Well May's here too, your mom's with her though—it's about the baby. Your dad should be coming but they said he was on the phone."

That…surprised me, 'Why would dad be on the phone?'

"It's weird, but I guess he has his reasons." I tried to open my eyes so I could see the expression on his face, but I could already guess. He probably ran into him in the lobby, and it probably didn't go well. "But that's not…" he trailed off, "I wanted to ask you something." He paused for a moment before adding on, "If you can talk."

I tried to force my eyes open again, and this time I actually succeeded—without them feeling like dead weights. I looked over at him and he seemed faintly surprised. But it passed quickly and he glanced at the door quickly before saying, "How did you get electrocuted?" Somehow I could tell that wasn't his original question, or at least it wasn't the one he had when he first walked into the room. He had that look in his eyes and I knew then what he originally wanted to ask.

And he somehow knew I couldn't answer it. Not truthfully, anyway. Of course I wouldn't be able to. If I did then Harley would be brought up, and that couldn't happen. I couldn't bring up how I was traveling with him, and how I had been traveling with him for however many years it's been since I met him in Lilycove City—

But he needed an answer. So I opened my mouth, surprised again by how easy the movement suddenly was, and tried to speak, "accident." The lie was already forming in my mind, even though my voice didn't want to work as well, "touched…loose circuit."

Drew nodded his head, thinking over what I had just, and made a non-commental "Mmm." Before turning and looking at the door again. He knew someone was out there, it was probably dad. Or maybe it was Jonah again, I didn't know. I couldn't see that far. I didn't have my glasses on.

The door eventually opened and in walked a mass of blond hair and peach skin wearing a white coat. It was Jonah. He cleared his throat and said, almost like he was offended, "I see you're fully awake now." His eyes focused on Drew, "and Norman wants to see you, of course. But he won't when you're in here."

Drew grunted and immediately stood up, "That doesn't surprise me." He muttered, shaking his head before saying out loud, "Well May and your mom'll be happy to hear you look like you're doing better. I'll…just…tell them the good news." He didn't sound too thrilled about it though, and I had to wonder again just how badly his run-in with my dad had been. They probably just saw each other in the hallway, and they probably hadn't even said a word to each other.

The door closing brought me back to attention enough to see that I was alone in the room with Jonah, who, when he got closer, looked extremely peeved about something, "You really do look like your father." He remarked offhandedly, shrugging of the white coat he was wearing.

He obviously didn't expect me to respond and instead continued on, "But you don't act a thing like him." He sat down on the seat that Drew just occupied and checked my pulse with his hand, seeing if it matched what the machine did. "Heart rate's normal…I suggest you try and move that mouth of yours, form some words, your father doesn't look too happy and I doubt he'd want to get anymore bad news."

I opened my mouth as instructed; my tongue didn't feel as thick and clumsy as it had a few minutes ago. The words were slow, though, when I tried to form them. But I managed to succeed after a few times, "Happy?" I asked, it was only one word, the ending word of the sentence that was still half in my head, but Jonah got it.

"Yup, that's good enough. But anyway, I guess I should give you this before your father comes in. He could be here any minute now so," he paused for a moment, reaching into his pants pocket before pulling out a thin rectangular disk, "Here." He grabbed my hand and turned it palm-up, placing the disk in my hand before closing it, "Don't lose it."

"What…?" I tried to get a closer look at the disk, but my arm still felt too heavy to lift.

"It's something that might come in handy later. I…" he looked away, "I don't want to tell you where I got it. Just…show it to Harley and he'll know. You'll have to decode it either way, but since you have the other part of it already decoded it shouldn't be too hard."

What he said still confused me, I wanted to ask him again what the heck it was—yeah it probably had some sort of valuable information locked in it that needed a special code to break but unless they told me what the other half was it'd probably take a while to get the right code. Wasn't impossible, no, but it was close to it.

"I should probably get going." Jonah stood up again, "I promised someone," his face tinted a light shade of pink, "that I would call since I left in such a hurry to get here so I'll just go and do that now!" he laughed nervously and at the same time almost shyly as he struggled to put on his doctor's coat again. But he didn't get very far before I formed the words on my lips.

"It's Skye, right?" My lips twitched into a smile as Jonah let out an embarrassed cough, "She'll be mad."

He grimaced at that, "Don't remind me please. Knowing her she'll probably take the nearest flying type and fly all the way here if I don't call—"

I couldn't help but want to laugh at that. "She is your girlfriend though." And it was true. They should just get married already with how long they've been together. "She's…got every right to worry." My voice cracked and my words tumbled over each other a little quickly but he heard me. He couldn't pretend that he didn't.

But he didn't respond. Not that he could. My soft laughter nearly died when the handle on the door to our room opened and Norman—Dad—appeared in the doorway. He had an overly strained look on his face, which even more killed my laughter, and he didn't look like he wanted to be here. Or anywhere near here.

"Ah, Max you're…up." He sounded relieved, but he was giving Jonah this weird look when he kept adjusting his coat. Jonah didn't meet his eyes though, and instead nodded his head in a stiff manner before slipping out the door.

"Dad?" I choked out the word. It was suddenly very hard to talk again. It got worse as he got closer, until he was sitting on the chair that Jonah, Drew, and Harley had sat in.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. Drew said you weren't talking, though. But that's good too." He looked like he really didn't believe what he was thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to have everything just go and fix itself easily?" he asked almost randomly, and for the first time I saw how tired he looked. Not angry, not annoyed, not tense, but tired.

He wanted a reply, though, I could tell he did. So I spoke, my voice trembling slightly as I tried to concentrate on the words, "Nothing's…like that." I knew it probably wasn't what he wanted to hear, but I didn't think he'd like it if I lied to him, or if I agreed with him now.

"I know that." He let out a sigh and dropped his head into his hands, "I know that. But it would be nice."

"It…would." I decided to agree with him now, just to see his reaction.

"But it won't happen." His voice was muffled, but I could see his shoulders tense, "It won't happen and it won't happen and it won't." he lifted his head from his hands and looked me in the eye, "Do you understand?"

That hurt. That hurt. It sounded like he was angry with me for something I had no clue about. I had to wonder who the heck he was on the phone with before he got in here because whoever it was just made him ten times worse than he was before.

"No of course you don't," he muttered to himself, "Never mind, forget I said that." He broke his gaze from mine and I knew he didn't want me to talk. I knew it but I wanted to talk. I wanted to because he was angry and he was silently accusing me of something in his head, I could see it in the way his eyes occasionally flickered on my face before flickering away.

"Dad?" I started, making him turn to me. Whatever words I had wanted to say—all about how I did know what he was talking about—fled instantly. Instead I asked, "Who was on the phone?"

Whatever angry flicker in his eyes completely died, "I wasn't—"

"J—the doctor told me. Drew did too. Who…?" I knew bringing Drew into this wasn't a good idea, but that didn't even seem to faze him. I didn't expect him to answer me at first, or at all, even. But he did after a few minutes of just the soundless ticking of the wall clock.

He answered me and honestly I was surprised at what I heard. Surprised but a little confused, I didn't recognize the name, but I knew it was someone important.

"Naomi." Dad muttered, saying it like it was some dreaded disease that he knew was going to kill him, "your grandmother. The one you haven't seen in fifteen years."


And that's the end of Chapter 9. Oddly enough I had the first 7 pages of this typed up for over a month now, but I got stuck. Why I always get stuck on page 5 or page 7 on my stories I don't know, it just happens.

As always R&R! Comments, Questions, loved it, have Critique? Send it via review! I'd also like to say (and yes I looked all this up and I do pay attention to it) that 9 people have this on alerts and 6 have it on their favs, and yet out of all those people only a few of them have reviewed for this fanfic. If you like it so much (like I hope you would if you've alerted it/faved it) then why don't you review for it? It would make me happy just hear from those people, since it makes me happy that they like this. It's a real motivation even though, like I've said before, I'm mostly updating this for fun.

-Harmony283