Chapter 32
4 Years Later
"Wow. You really do have a green thumb." May gasps at the roses in Drew's backyard. Every year, they get more beautiful and he adds more.
Blushing from the compliment, the nervous man responds, "My parents loved them." He used to garden with them before they died, so Drew is glad to be able to continue honoring them through this hobby. Because it's been years since he's gardened, he had to do a lot of research on how to raise roses. Once the roses started growing, Drew would bring one to May every time he'd visit her.
Shortly after living with the Maples, Drew got a job at a business firm in the city. He had been sent away to college when he was in the Hayden Family, so Drew is highly educated. Plus, Drew's confidence and charms helped him move his way through the interview and even up through promotions. He's a very successful business man, but May expected this from her boyfriend. May is working at a large technology company, which is perfect for her.
Drew would visit her every day after work while also spending time with the Maples. Caroline loves Drew because he's so helpful. Max has grown used to the new man, but Max is still skeptical of him. Norman continues to suspiciously watch Drew, though their relationship has gotten better. However, Drew has realized he doesn't mind being around Norman anymore because Drew will do anything for May, even if it means hanging out with her scary father.
A year after arriving in Hoenn, Drew earned enough money to move out into a home nearby. Since he wants to be with May, he is living in Petalburg, and fortunately, the houses aren't too expensive here. May visits him often because they have privacy at his house; though, her father does call her whenever she's at Drew's. Being an adult, May ignores him. She hopes to move in with Drew soon, but her parents still worry about her after the whole Hayden Family incident.
Walking through the garden, Drew takes May's hand where he leads her to a different area that Drew had blocked off this past year; thus, May hasn't seen it yet. "Am I finally gonna see this project you've been working on?" teases the brunette.
"You'll be the first." smirks Drew. Despite having the money to hire a gardener, Drew wants to take care of this garden himself. It's what makes him feel closest to his parents. Plus, it's now something he and May connect over because Caroline loves gardening too.
As they enter the field, May stops in her tracks with a gasp. It's beautiful. There is a small tree in the middle and a gravel path surrounding it while there are rose bushes surrounding the path in a giant circle. Smiling nervously at her, Drew leads May towards the tree. "When this tree gets bigger, it'll give us apples."
"It's beautiful, Drew." May finally manages to say, causing him to blush again.
"Thanks, May." Drew then gets down on one knee as both of his hands now clasp May's.
Since she's too focused on the scene around her, May hasn't noticed Drew's drop in level. "I love apples." mutters the woman, making Drew chuckle as his nerves relax.
"May." he calls to her, getting her attention.
Giving him a worried look, she bends down and asks, "Are you okay?" Why is Drew on the ground? Did he hurt his ankle? Is his foot asleep?
Shaking his head, Drew stands up, much to May's relief, and he pulls her up too. "Stay standing, May." Drew then gets back down on one knee while she curiously looks at him.
"What are you doing? Tying my shoe?" Her shoe laces are tied, so she doesn't know why Drew is so low.
Gosh, this dense woman is gonna kill Drew before he can ask his question, although he isn't nervous anymore. "Just let me talk for a minute, May." smirks the man.
Rolling her eyes, May replies, "Fine. You can talk to me from the ground." It makes her feel superior anyway, and May likes teasing Drew.
Taking in a deep breath, Drew uses his left hand to hold onto May's gently. "I made this part of the garden for you. I wanted something beautiful here because you're beautiful, May. You've brought so much light into my light, and I can't see myself without you."
May can't help but tear up at his sweetness. Ever since coming to Hoenn, she and Drew have resumed their playful banters and teasing. Seldom are they ever sweet to one another, so she cherishes the moments they are. "Same, Drew. I love you so much."
Sighing, he says, "I asked for a minute, May."
"Then hurry it up!" She just wants to kiss him already, but he's taking too long to stand up.
While Drew has a whole speech prepared, May's impatience has made him forget it. It's okay, though, because he doesn't need a lot of words to get to May. She already knows how he feels, and he'll spend the rest of his life showing her. Besides, Drew can't see his life with anyone else. The Hayden Family couldn't separate them. Her father can't separate them. Even life itself hasn't been able to separate them. Therefore, Drew doesn't fear the future because he knows May will be by his side. Chuckling, Drew continues, "I love you too, May Haruka Maple. Will you marry me?"
Sinnoh
Veilstone City is now completely gang-free as law enforcement and the city have been working vigorously to clean up the corruption. Even the regional law enforcement agency has been involved. It truly is a city people don't mind living in anymore. The city has grown from once being controlled by the Hayden Family.
The rest of the Hayden Family members who are involved in the crimes are incarcerated too. Although, with Matthew and Junior dead, there wasn't anyone who stepped up to want to lead the gang. Moreover, even Galactic Gang has been driven out of the city due to the region cracking down on gangs in Veilstone City.
Due to the bad reputation from the whole Hayden Family issue years ago, the economy dropped heavily in Veilstone City, making property really cheap. Therefore, Zoey bought a small building to run her interior design company, which has come in handy as the city is rebuilding. Now, more people are moving to Veilstone because the city is cleaner and homes are cheap. This brings more clients to Zoey who has hired more workers, including Kenny.
After finding out Dawn was pregnant, Kenny offered to be a father for the child if Dawn would give him a chance and date him. Dawn, still being heartbroken over Paul, declined his offer. Moreover, she'd rather her child grow up not knowing their father than to think someone else is their father. It's not fair of her to lie to her child. Since Kenny doesn't have anything tying him down to Twinleaf Town, and he's tired of working at his family's salon, he quickly accepted Zoey's offer to come back to work at Coordinators Interior Design.
Dawn also declined the job because Veilstone City is too painful for her. She doesn't want to ever return there if she doesn't have to. Besides, her son is enjoying his time in the safe small town Dawn loves. "Liam!" yells the young bluenette as she walks inside her mother's bakery.
Soon, little footsteps are heard and Dawn bends down to greet the three year old. He has short midnight blue hair and coal grey eyes. "Mommy!" exclaims the happy boy.
Standing up, Dawn lifts him in the air. "Did you miss me?" She giggles at him. Although, Dawn was only gone for an hour running errands for her mother.
"I always miss you!" he giggles back, causing Dawn to hug him tightly again.
Kissing Liam on the head, Dawn walks behind the counter where her mother is currently rolling out some dough. "Hey, mom."
Johanna looks up to smile at Dawn. "Anything interesting happen in town?"
Dawn sets Liam down on the high chair behind the register. "You know nothing happens here, mom."
"That's how I like it." chuckles the older woman, and Dawn finds herself agreeing. When Dawn was younger, she couldn't wait to get as far away from Twinleaf Town as possible. She wanted to go to a big city because this town was too boring and everyone knew each other's business. However, after the whole Hayden Family thing, Dawn is grateful to be living in a boring town again if it means she's safe. Plus, she has Liam to worry about now too.
"Let me run upstairs real quick." Dawn tells her mother. They live in the small living space above the bakery, but it's enough for the family of three. The older Liam gets, the more he looks like his father, which pains Dawn heavily to this day. He also asks more about his dad the older he gets too, and Dawn hates having to avoid the question. Fortunately, her mother has been helping her distract Liam whenever he asks around her.
In the past, Dawn used to be so mad at Paul for leaving her. She would hate him and hope he stays unhappy forever. However, over time, she's grown and learned to just move on. Why waste time and energy hating someone? Besides, it pains her to hate Paul because he cherished her while they were together. Also, with Liam looking like Paul, Dawn can't find herself to hate the man anymore.
Now, Dawn wishes Paul is happy with his life. He really deserves it after everything he's gone through, and while she wishes he was by her side, she can only accept this is how life is. As much as Dawn wants to tell Paul about Liam, she has no idea where the purple haired man is. She does hope he's still alive, which he should be since the Hayden Family was destroyed that night he left her.
Walking back down the stairs to the bakery, Dawn hears her mother speaking with customers. When she finally enters the bakery, Dawn spots Liam spinning himself on the chair. This always worries Dawn because the chair is very high and Liam can fall, especially due to his dizziness. "Liam!" She snaps as she quickly rushes over to catch him before he can fall.
Giggling, the little boy exclaims, "Again, mommy!"
Sighing, Johanna faces the customers. "I'm sorry about that. My grandson has a lot of energy."
The brunette woman smiles at Johanna though. "It's okay, ma'am. He's very cute."
Dawn freezes at the voice she hasn't heard in years. As far as she knows, she hasn't seen anyone of these people since the day she left. Looking over at her mother, Dawn spots the two customers. A brunette woman and a green haired man are smiling warmly at her. "May!" Dawn exclaims as she sets Liam on the ground. "Drew!" Despite the painful memories, Dawn still considers these two great people. They were nothing but nice and supportive to her years ago.
Rushing to meet her halfway, May tackles Dawn in a hug. "I missed you!"
Once May pulls away, Drew hugs the bluenette. "Hey, Dawn!"
Johanna curiously looks at the three. "How do you know them, Dawn?" She asks her daughter who grins at her.
"This is May and this is Drew!" Dawn points to them. "They helped me with the whole incident four years ago."
Nodding, Johanna gives them a tight smile because she's still trying to recover from the trauma of the Hayden Family incident. While Johanna was safe in hiding, she knows Dawn was in trouble on the frontlines. Johanna has no idea that Dawn and Kenny were kidnapped, and Dawn plans to keep it that way since her mother worries enough as is. The older woman walks back behind the counter to give her daughter time to catch up with these two.
"Mommy?" the little voice makes Dawn look down where she happily picks up her son.
"These are my friends, May and Drew, Liam! Can you say, 'hi'?" The boy shyly buries his face in her shoulder, but he extends a little hand out to the couple.
May shakes his hand with a smile. "Hi, Liam!"
Drew then shakes the little hand. "Hey, Liam! Nice to meet you." The man directs his attention back to Dawn where he raises a confused eyebrow at her. "I would think you'd try to hide him from us?"
Dawn just shrugs even though she did think about it. "Why would I do that?"
"Because of a certain purple haired man." May mutters. Fortunately, Liam is too shy and young to understand the conversation.
The brunette woman just smiles at them though since she's glad to see they're doing well. "I'm pretty sure you guys already knew about him." With May's tech skills, Dawn knows May found Liam's birth certificate and information of Dawn being a mother.
Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, May replies, "Yeah...But we only searched you up so we could find you. Not to stalk you."
"It's okay, May. I'm not mad." If anything, Dawn is grateful for their visit because this town has been way too boring.
"Well," Drew interrupts the awkward women with a white envelope extended towards Dawn who curiously takes it.
"What's this?"
"We want to invite you to our wedding." Drew shyly smiles, and May grabs his hand as blushes appear on both of their faces. After gaining May's family's trust, Norman finally allowed Drew to ask for May's hand, which she of course eagerly accepted.
"And can you be my maid of honor?" May eagerly asks the bluenette who sets down Liam to pull them into a group hug.
"Yes!" Dawn has always dreamed of her wedding, but seeing as how that's not a possibility anymore, being a maid-of-honor is even better. "I'm so excited!" gushes the bluenette when she releases them.
Since Drew and May are still skeptical of many people, they don't have a lot of friends. The closest people they've had are the group that took down the Hayden Family with them years ago, and even then, that group was barely together a week. Moreover, with Leaf dead, and Gary and Paul missing, there aren't many people Drew and May trust.
"Liam can be the ring bearer." Drew grins as he bends down to ruffle the boy's hair who is hiding behind Dawn's legs.
"What's that?" he asks Drew.
Grinning, the man replies, "You get to carry a pillow with rings, and I'll give you as much candy as you want!"
Liam's eyes open wide at the promise, causing him to look up at his mother. "Can I do it?"
Giggling, Dawn ruffles his hair too. "Okay, Liam."
"Yeah!" Liam high fives Drew, and May smiles at the scene.
Pallet Town
"Stop moving so much!" exclaims the worried raven haired man.
Rolling her eyes, the redhead replies, "Activity is good for the baby."
"Mist, please!" he cries out as he watches his wife continue swimming in their pool with their 2 year old daughter, Marie.
The little girl in her floaters splashes him. "Play, daddy!"
As Ash plays with her, his worried gaze remains on his very pregnant wife swimming laps around them. Misty had done this when she was pregnant with Marie too, and Ash can't get used to it. He's done having children because his active wife just scares him. When Pikachu, the yellow lab jumps in the pool, Marie chooses to play with him instead. This allows Ash to swim back over to Misty who he manages to grab.
"Take a break, Mist."
Narrowing her eyes at him, especially since swimming is her break, Misty replies, "Let me swim, Ash." As much as she likes being a mother, the whole pregnancy thing gets very annoying. With her due any moment now, Misty's ankles are swollen and she's moody. The water helps with the weight on her lower body as well as relaxing her.
After Ash's proposal in Cerulean City, Misty, Ash, and Delia moved back to Ash's Pallet Town home. Tracey, Daisy, and Kelsey still live in Pallet Town, so both families visit often. Ash and Misty got married shortly after settling down in Pallet Town, and they had Marie over a year later. Misty is a detective at the Pallet Town Police Station, and Ash is working at the humane society, which is how he adopted Pikachu. Misty finds it funny how this former gangster is so tender with animals, despite it being Ash who is gentle with everyone.
True to Ash's words, he has never left Misty's side. Sometimes, like now, she wishes he will just go inside and let her freely swim. He is the reason she's like this anyway. Fortunately for Ash, his mother comes out to call for them. "Ash! Misty! You have guests!"
The couple assumes it must be the Sketchits dropping by unexpectedly again, which is fine because Pallet Town is a small town. Hopping out of the pool, Ash helps Misty climb out and they walk to the edge where their towels are. Soon, Delia returns with the guests from inside, causing the Ketchums to look up.
Ash's face breaks into a huge grin, and he hurries over to tackle them in a hug. "Drew! May!" Misty waddles over to hug the couple once Ash lets go. Smiling at them, Delia takes Marie and Pikachu inside since it's getting dark. Marie hugs Drew and May before quickly following her grandmother inside.
"What brings you guys here?" Misty asks. The couples only see each other once a year. They mostly communicate through phone calls.
Extending out her left hand to show off the sparkly engagement ring, May exclaims, "We're getting married!"
Drew hands the Ketchums a white envelope. "We want you as our bridesmaid and groomsman."
May and Drew had came to their wedding years ago, and Drew was one of Ash's groomsmen while Tracey was the best man and Silver was another groomsman. Misty's three sisters and May were her bridesmaids while Daisy was the maid of honor. The couple had taken time at their wedding to honor their missing comrades: Leaf, Dawn, Paul, Gary, and Brock.
Taking the envelope, Ash grins at them. "Of course!"
"It'll be an honor." Misty smiles too and hugs them again. It's the hormones making the redhead cry, so Ash manages to pry his wife off of the brunette.
"We want Marie as our flower girl." May gushes at the cute girl who she always wants to visit before Marie grows too much.
Chuckling, Ash replies, "She'll love it." Unlike Misty, Marie is very girly, which is why she loves spending time with her aunts. Kelsey Sketchit is more tomboy-ish, so she hangs out with the Ketchum parents a lot.
Nodding, Misty says, "This baby will be out soon, and I'll need a drink once it is." This causes Ash to worriedly look at her again, making Misty roll her eyes.
"Bring your mom to babysit, man." Drew laughs while patting the raven haired man on the shoulder.
"When are you due?" May asks because she forgot the date Misty had told her last time.
"Hopefully now." groans the redhead, causing Ash to look like he's about to faint with worry. This just makes Drew laugh out more at Ash's misfortune.
Rolling her eyes, May says, "I'm gonna do the same thing to you when I'm pregnant."
Blushing immensely, Drew straightens up to give his fiance a scared look. "What?"
"Keep teasing Ash. I'll remember this."
That challenging gaze would usually make Drew's heart skip a beat at how tough May is, but he's currently cowering under it because it's directed at him. The green haired man opts to keep his mouth shut in this situation.
Looking up at the darkening sky, May now gives the Ketchums a warm smile. "We wanna spend time with Marie, so we'll be in town for a few days." She tells them.
"Congratulations!" Misty grins happily at the couple, and Ash offers them a weak smile. The Ketchums are happy that their Hoenn friends are finally tying the knot since they know about how Drew has been trying to gain the Maple's trust all these years.
After bidding Ash and Misty goodbye, May and Drew make the drive back to their Pallet Town Hotel. "When do you wanna have kids?" Drew asks as a blush tints his cheeks.
The question causes her face to flush too, even though the two do know children are a real possibility for them. "Whenever we settle down after the wedding."
Nodding, Drew reaches over to hold that small soft hand he loves. Seeing May interact with Marie really makes him love May. She'll make a great mother, especially with her caring nature. It's another reason why he loves her. May squeezes Drew's hand because she's also thinking of his interactions with Liam last week. Drew gets along really well with children, like Marie and even Liam last week. Plus, May knows Drew deserves a family who loves him after everything he's gone through.
"Have you found any of them?" Drew's question breaks May from her thoughts, and she sighs.
"Not Gary. He moves too much."
Drew catches a quick glance at her where he raises a hopeful eyebrow. "Paul?" When he sees that small smile on her face, Drew brings her hand up to plant a long kiss on it. "Gosh, I love you!"
Giggling from his affection, May tells him, "Paul's in Johto." She gazes at the road ahead as they near their hotel. Knowing Paul is in Johto is the reason why May convinced Drew to tell Dawn about their wedding first. Kanto is next to Johto, so it's less of a travel. Plus, she just recently figured out where in Johto Paul is.