Everything was quiet in the Rebolledo/Berlitz household. Paul was making dinner in the kitchen, and Dawn decided to check up on her emails to see if she was expected to do anything for work. Although she wasn't going into work anymore, she was still submitting designs to the company in the hope of some of her work being made. There was the usual junk cluttering up her inbox- promotions from companies she'd bought from once or twice, social media notifications. But right at the top of the page was one from a Raoul Contesta.

Dear Dawn, it read

I would firstly like to congratulate you on the news of your marriage and pregnancy. I'm sure the contest world will be glad to have another prospective coordinator from the Berlitz family! However, I am emailing for another reason entirely. We are currently hoping to extend the reach of Pokémon contests across the sea to the Kalos region, and as such, we are moving a large percentage of our staff over there. Coincidentally, we will not have some of our main staff members available in Sinnoh. Since this will all begin at the start of the next coordinating season, I am emailing to ask if you would be interested in filling the position of main MC as Marian has chosen to represent us in Kalos. I will completely understand if you do not wish to take this offer up, and want to wish you the best with your baby.

Yours truly,

Raoul Contesta

"Paul!" Dawn called, and waited for him to come in from the kitchen.

"What?"

"Can you read this? I'm not sure I read it right."

"What- fine." He scanned the email for a moment before looking back to Dawn. "It says you're being offered a job as MC for contests in Sinnoh," he said simply, before returning to the kitchen.

Dawn stared at the laptop screen in shock. There was no way that she was being offered a job. No way… but her name was on the email, and it did mention her recent wedding and soon to arrive baby. But being an MC? That wasn't something she had ever imagined happening in her life until now. She had left the contest world to go into the fashion industry, and for so long she had told herself she belonged in fashion and not in the contest world. She had won the Ribbon Cup, and there wasn't much point in coordinating more. She was done, she was tired, but then… this happened. Was she ready to go back to the world of contests?

She shut the laptop quickly, setting it as far away from herself as she could.

A phone call came one Saturday afternoon, making Dawn jump out of her skin. She instinctively reached out to pick it up, scared that it Mr. Contesta phoning because she hadn't responded to the email yet.

"H-hello?"

"Ah, Dawn, hello," a soft female voice said, causing Dawn to relax. "It's Cynthia. Could you put Paul on the phone for me, please?"

"Sure!" She leaned across the sofa towards him, covering the microphone with her palm. "It's Cynthia, for you." Paul's face paled, but he hesitantly took the handset from Dawn.

"Hello, Cynthia," Paul started, and Dawn had to cover her face with a pillow to suppress the laughter that Paul's phone voice caused.

They talked for only a few minutes, and Dawn distinctly heard Paul give Cynthia their address, and immediately sat up straight. As Paul set the phone down, Dawn stood up slowly, making an attempt to straighten cushions and cleaning coffee cups. Paul tidied the ever-growing pile of shoes by the door (mainly Dawn's) and closed doors to other rooms.

"Stop panicking," he said, causing Dawn to stop in her tracks.

"What? Who said I was panicking?"

"I did. Calm down, she's just coming for tea."

"I know, but I still want the house to look good. She's the former champion!"

"And I'm the current champion, but you don't seem to mind leaving your mess around me," Paul quipped, causing Dawn to flush.

"Yeah, but…"

"I was joking." Paul grabbed Dawn's wrist, pulling her towards him and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. "It'll be fine."

Paul and Cynthia sat down at the table, Dawn busying herself by making cups of tea. She couldn't hear much through the walls, but anything she did catch was quiet and tense. She worried for Paul- he seemed genuinely scared of Cynthia any time she'd come up in conversation, and now she was seated at their table. There was a lull in the conversation, and Dawn decided this was probably a good time to enter with the tea. She set the cups shakily onto the table in front of Paul and Cynthia, and scuttled away into the bedroom.

"Why don't you join us?" She heard a voice say as her hand fell onto the door handle. She turned slowly, placing the voice as Cynthia's.

"A-are you sure?" Dawn asks uncertainly, her hand slipping from the handle.

"Of course. I would love to talk more with you Dawn. It's been what, seven years since we've had a full conversation?"

Dawn padded uncertainly across the room, pulling up one of the spare chairs Reggie had donated. She sat down slowly, tying her fingers in knots to keep her distracted from the fear she felt. Paul and Cynthia continued their conversation over her, but Dawn wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, instead distracting herself by trying to count the days until the baby was due. She came to the conclusion that it was only ten or so days, and that was provided the baby didn't decide to come early. She paled visibly at the thought, and Cynthia spotted this.

"Are you feeling alright?" She asked, a well-practiced look of concern carefully painted across her face.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine!" Dawn said, waving her hands frantically in front of her face. Paul quirked an eyebrow, and Dawn turned away quickly.

"I don't know if you could hear from the kitchen, but I was just congratulating Paul on his battle yesterday."

"Ah, yes! He did great," Dawn offered, flashing him a smile.

"He did. As one of his first public battles as Champion, I have to say he did exceptionally. I don't think even I did that well!" She joked, but Paul wasn't laughing. Dawn could feel the tension in the room, and evidently Cynthia could as well, as she stretched slightly before getting to her feet. "I should be getting home. I was just dropping by, anyway. It was so nice to see you both again." Dawn got shakily to her feet, earning a look of concern from Paul, which she shook her head at.

"It was lovely to see you too, Cynthia! You should, um, drop by some other time!" She was well versed in pretending to be confident from her time as a coordinator, and that skill hadn't disappeared even after all these years.

"Yeah, you can come round any time. There'll be a baby soon though, so you might want to factor that in before making any visits," Paul suggested, and Cynthia laughed.

"Well, as I don't have any children of my own, I'll be sure to come and visit this little one at some point!" She gestured towards Dawn's stomach, causing Dawn to retract into herself a little.

Paul followed Cynthia to the door and waved her off. As soon as he shut the door, he leaned against it, letting out a deep breath Dawn didn't know he was holding. He slowly wandered over to the sofa, flinging himself onto it and switching the TV on. Dawn joined him, placing her hand gently on top of his. She opened her mouth to speak, but his words came out before hers.

"I'm so glad she's gone. That woman scares me so much," he breathed, resting his head on the back of the sofa.

"Really? You seemed calm to me. You're a good actor, at least."

"I was more concerned that you seemed like you were about to have a panic attack before she arrived to concentrate on what she was saying, She was just offering me more useful advice anyway, so it wasn't too important."

"Well, she scares me too. I guess that's something we have in common."

"We have more in common than you originally thought, clearly," Paul said, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer to him. She rested her head against his chest, ignoring the pain that was coming from her abdomen. The baby had been kicking a lot recently, and Dawn was starting suspect it was getting bored of waiting.

Dawn turned in early that night, and Paul joined her soon after. There was no way she was sleeping- there was too much weighing on her mind. With the email from Mr. Contesta, the visit from Cynthia and the baby due soon, she was a bag of nerves, and Paul was clearly aware of this. Even though he wasn't always that perceptive of emotions, he had picked up signs from Dawn in the last few months when she wasn't feeling the best.

"What's up?" He asked casually, putting a bookmark between the pages of his training methods book.

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

"You're lying."

"What? I'm not! I swear."

"Okay, but you've been unusually quiet all evening. Tell me."

"I keep thinking about the MC job. I'm still not sure if I want to take it."

"You're saying you still haven't replied to Mr. Contesta?"

"…yeah. I don't know what to do, so I'm just pretending it's not happening."

"That's not the best idea. If you don't reply, he may offer the job to someone else, and then you might regret it," Paul pointed out, opening his book again.

"You're right. I guess… well, I can take it, and then see what happens. If I hate it, I can obviously quit, right?"

"Right."

"Okay. Okay!" Dawn picked her phone off the bedside cabinet, opening her mail and finding the email from Mr. Contesta. Hitting reply, she composed a response.

Dear Mr. Contesta,

I apologise for not getting back to you sooner, as I'm sure you can understand I've been very busy as of late. Thank you very much for considering me for the job. I am honoured that you would pick someone like me, who left the coordinating world a time ago. If the job as MC is still available, I would be very happy to accept it. I will drop by your office in the next few weeks if you wish to talk with me- I'm pretty sure I will be out of action soon with the baby on it's way any time now. Thank you once again,

Dawn Berlitz

She hit send before she could change her mind, tossing her phone carelessly back onto the bedside cabinet.

"Done," she announced, sliding further down under the covers.

"Anything else on your mind?" She considered telling him that she thought the baby would be arriving soon, but elected not to, as she assumed it would send him into a panic.

"Nope."

Dawn didn't get out of bed the next morning. She was exhausted, and by the time she woke up, Paul had already left, and it was well past midday. It was cold though, so she reluctantly hauled herself out of bed, putting her feet into her slippers as she went. She padded into the kitchen, turning the heating on, and flicking on the kettle while she was at it. Her back was sore that day, and she rubbed the base of her spine, clicking her neck in an attempt to become more comfortable.

Before the kettle finished boiling, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen that felt not dissimilar to the baby's kick. It went away after a few seconds and was replaced with a dull pain that didn't subside.

Dawn panicked slightly. She ran (walked quickly) into the living room, and lifted the phone, dialing her mother's number.

"Hello?"

"The baby's coming!"

.