Ash stood nervously on Professor Oak's doorstep and rang the doorbell.
"Hello, Ash," Professor Oak said awkwardly as he answered the door. He was just as nervous as Ash was, unsure if his son would either embrace him or punch him in the nose.
Ash did neither. He just stood there, looking around uncomfortably.
"Um, won't you come in and sit down?" Professor Oak finally blurted out, breaking the awkward silence. "Let me run back and finish what I was doing on the computer and I'll join you."
Ash wandered back to the living room and was trying to decide whether to sit down or stay standing when he saw a bunch of pictures scattered on the coffee table. Ash picked up the one on the top of the pile and studied it. It was a picture of a rather young-looking Professor Oak, but from the nose up the resemblance to Ash was uncanny.
"That's a picture of me when I was in college, not much older than you." Professor Oak had come into the room and was standing behind Ash. "The resemblance is definitely there," he said, studying Ash's face. "And believe it or not, long ago my hair was almost the same color as yours."
Ash didn't say anything, but continued to study the picture as he unconsciously ran a hand through his dark hair.
"If you're still not convinced, we can always do a DNA test. I do have the capability here at the lab, you know," he said with a slight smile.
"Uh, no, Professor… jeez, I don't even know what to call you now," Ash said as he flopped down on the couch opposite Professor Oak.
"Professor Oak is fine. Whatever you're comfortable with," he said as he offered Ash a cup of tea.
Ash took the cup and slowly sipped the tea. His stomach was still upset from last night's drinking binge and the hot tea was rather soothing.
"Look, Ash," Professor Oak began, "I'm sure your mother has already told you what happened between us. If you'll let me, I'd like to tell you my side of the story."
"Okay," Ash said quietly.
"When your mother started working here at the lab," he began, "she had just received her degree in Pokémon botany and wanted to do her master's degree research here. It's unusual for me to have female researchers around; you know as well as I do that most of them choose to go to Professor Ivy's lab at Valencia Island."
Ash nodded. He had been to Professor Ivy's lab and it was completely staffed by females.
"Anyway, your mother thought that this lab had better gardens and facilities to study grass-type Pokémon, so she ended up here. I'll admit that it was hard for me not to notice her; your mother was young, bright, and very pretty. I'll also admit that I was a bit lonely at the time. My wife had died of cancer the year before."
He flipped through the stack of pictures on the table and handed one to Ash.
"Her name was Rose. Even now I still miss her," Professor Oak said with a sad smile.
Ash thought the pretty, petite red-haired woman had a nice smile. She looked like a friendly person.
Professor Oak continued. "But I knew that your mother was off-limits because she was married, so I just admired her from a distance." His face clouded. "A few days after Delia started working here, I found her crying in the garden one afternoon. Apparently she had walked in on her husband and his ex-girlfriend in bed together."
Ash looked up from the picture, horrified. His mother had never told him that.
Professor Oak saw the expression on Ash's face. "Ash, I'm so sorry," he said gently. "I thought Delia had told you everything that had happened."
"Not that," Ash said in a strained voice.
"Are you all right, Ash?" Professor Oak asked with concern. Ash didn't look so good.
"Yeah, I just…didn't know," Ash said weakly. He was imagining how terrible it must've been for his mom to see what she did that day.
"Needless to say, your mother was devastated. If I'm guilty of doing anything that day, Ash, it was holding her while she cried on my shoulder. Even though we hadn't been working together that long, I was touched that she trusted me enough to tell me what had happened."
Ash nodded in agreement. His mother was a trusting person. Perhaps a little too trusting.
"Shortly thereafter, her husband left her. Since Delia couldn't afford the apartment where they were staying on just her salary, she didn't have anywhere to go. I offered her the apartment that I keep over the lab for visiting researchers and graduate students. In exchange for room and board, she would be the caretaker of the Pokémon at the lab on nights and weekends. I felt sorry for your mother, but I will admit that I had did have a selfish motive in mind when I offered her the apartment."
"What?" Ash said suspiciously.
"Your mother is a very bright, attractive woman, Ash," Professor Oak said with a smile. "I enjoyed having her around, talking to her. Perhaps I did take advantage of the situation by offering to let her stay here. But I really did need someone to help me out with the Pokémon at the time since my lab was woefully understaffed then."
Ash understood that. Sometimes it seemed as if there were Pokémon everywhere underfoot at the lab, even now.
"I scared your mother to death the first night she was here," he said with a mischievous grin. " I had forgotten to tell her that I often work late whenever I have a particularly interesting bit of research that I can't tear myself away from. She heard me downstairs and must've thought I was a burglar. She nearly took my head off with a baseball bat."
Ash laughed. "Mom did that?"
"Yes. Don't ever scare your mother when she's holding a baseball bat," he said as he refilled Ash's cup with more tea. "Fortunately, she missed me but ended up destroying my computer." Professor Oak chuckled and leaned back on the couch. The funny story had eased some of the tension between him and Ash.
"We ended up spending the rest of that night trying to fix my computer and just talking. Your mother was eager to learn more about the various types of Pokémon, not just the grass-type ones that were her specialty. We must've stayed up until about four in the morning talking about Pokémon. And that's all we did that night, Ash." He was careful to stress the "all" in the last sentence. He could tell that Ash didn't exactly believe him.
"We became good friends, your mother and I. We got along together well."
Yeah, a little too well, thought Ash. That's how I got here.
Professor Oak was silent for a moment. He was trying to decide how best to phrase the next part of his story without upsetting Ash too much.
"I began to develop feelings for your mother. Feelings that were more than just those of a good working relationship."
Ash frowned.
"But I knew that since I was her boss, I could never act on them. Still, it was almost impossible for me to ignore what I felt."