Ash lay on the couch with his head propped on a pillow. He didn't actually pass out, but had come close enough to frighten both of them. Professor Oak sat on the coffee table next to the couch, checking his son's pulse.
"Much better, Ash," he said with a satisfied smile. "I think you'll live." He replaced his son's arm under the blanket and tucked it around Ash's chin. "When was the last time you had anything to eat?"
The hangover had left him too sick to his stomach to eat anything that day, and he didn't think that the two aspirin he'd had that morning really counted as food. The only thing he remembered eating was the piece of bread he'd had the day before in his mother's kitchen. Ash looked at the clock on the wall and realized that he hadn't had anything to eat in over twenty-four hours.
"Um, yesterday. I had some bread when I got home yesterday afternoon. I didn't really eat anything this morning."
"I figured as much," Professor Oak said. "Your mother told me about what happened last night, and I didn't think you would've felt like eating when you got up this morning. Do you think you can handle some soup?"
"Sure. That sounds okay." Ash leaned back on the pillow and closed his eyes.
"Be back in a minute. I'll also check on Pikachu for you," Professor Oak said as he left the room.
Ash snuggled under the blanket. This was just like when he was sick when he was a little kid. His mom would prop him up on pillows on the couch, tuck him in under a soft blanket, and feed him soup. Except that instead of his mother taking care of him, it was now his father. It was kind of weird, but at the same time it was comforting.
"Pikachu and Heracross are in the backyard playing with Muk," Professor Oak announced as he came back into the room with a tray and a bowl of soup. "Although Muk can't get it through his head that playing tag does not mean jumping on everyone and body-slamming them. I'm going to have to get my lab coat cleaned again," he said as he examined the purple goo on his shoulder. "Here," he said, placing the tray on Ash's lap. "I may be a lousy cook, but it's hard for even me to screw up opening a can of soup."
Ash took a sip of the soup. Chicken noodle, just like his mom used to feed him.
"Be careful, it's still a bit hot. And don't try to eat too much too fast, or you'll get sick to your stomach."
Jeez, Professor Oak sounds just like my mother. Or father….
"I'll spare you the lecture on underage drinking, Ash," Professor Oak said as he sat on the coffee table and watched his son eat. "I think you've figured out for yourself that the aftereffects aren't too pleasant, are they?"
Gee whiz, the guy's been my father for twenty-four hours and he's already giving me a lecture.
"But I think I can understand why you did it, Ash. You felt hurt, betrayed, lied to, confused. Am I right?"
Ash nodded.
"But now I hope you understand why your mother and I did what we did. Not that it makes lying about it and sneaking around behind everyone's back right." He sighed. "I get so tired of having to make up excuses every time your mother and I are together."
Ash felt sorry for Professor Oak. All this time he never realized how hard it must've been for him to keep their secret all these years.
"When you got a little bit older and started on your Pokémon journey, your mother and I were able to spend a little more time together. We would travel together to see how you were doing, always under the pretense that since we were neighbors that it would be easier to for us to carpool together. And now you know that I had an interest in you beyond that of a mentor-student relationship."
Professor Oak searched through the pile of pictures on the table and gave one to Ash.
"Remember this?"
It was a newspaper clipping on the results of the first Indigo League Pokémon Championship that Ash had competed in. Ash's placing in the top sixteen finalists had been big news for Pallet Town, meriting a front-page story in the local paper.
Ash was surprised. "You kept this?"
"Of course. I was so proud of you then. Still am." Ash handed him the article back. "Your mother and I were hoping that perhaps if you saw the two of us spending more time together that when we did finally tell you truth that it wouldn't be such a shock. That plan obviously didn't work."
Ash felt pretty foolish. All this time and he had never picked up on the idea that his mom and Professor Oak might be more than just friends.
Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the video telephone in the corner of the room.
"Better get that," Professor Oak said, standing up. "Finish the rest of your soup."
"Hello, Professor." It was Delia.
"Hello, Delia," he replied warmly.
"Is Ash still there?" she asked. "He said he was going to go over to your place so the two of you could talk."
"Psst!!" The noise came from the couch.
"Excuse me for a second, Delia," Professor Oak said, leaning over and turning around to look at Ash, who was frantically waving his arms and shaking his head.
"Don't tell my mom that I nearly passed out!" Ash said in a frantic whisper. "She'll make me stay in bed for a week!"
Samuel understood. Delia was a good mother, but she could sometimes be a bit overprotective when it came to her son. He nodded in agreement and turned his attention back to the video screen.
"Sorry about that. Ash wanted me to let you know that he's still here and that the two of us have had a rather productive dialogue."
"Well, when you're through, could you please send him home for dinner?"
"Certainly. I'll talk to you later, Delia."
"Good-bye, Samuel. And bye, sweetie," she called out to Ash. "I'll see you at dinner."
I wish Mom would stop calling me that! I'm nearly an adult now. Ash rolled his eyes as Professor Oak hung up the phone.
"Thanks," Ash said as Professor Oak returned to his spot on the coffee table.
"How do you feel now, Ash? Do you think you can make it home all right?"
The soup had revitalized him. "I think so," Ash said as he slowly stood up.
"Are you sure? Your mother would kill both me and you if I let you go home and you passed out again on the way back," Professor Oak said, hovering close to Ash just in case his son started feeling dizzy again.
"That's okay. I'll have Pikachu with me. I'll tell him to zap me with a Thundershock if I start going down again." Ash started for the back door to go get his Pokémon. "Thanks for the soup and stuff."
"You're welcome, Ash." Professor Oak hesitated for a moment. "Ash, I don't expect you to think of me as your father. I think both you and I know that it's too late for that. But I hope that you do know that under the circumstances I tried the best I could to be there for you. And I apologize for the times that I wasn't there for you. Even though you may never think of me as your father, you'll always be my son." He gently laid a hand on Ash's shoulder.
"Uh, thanks," Ash said awkwardly. Even though he had a better opinion of Professor Oak now than he did before their talk, he still wasn't ready to accept the man as his father just yet. "I'd better go." Ash turned and walked out the door.