Samuel tossed about in his bed. Unable to get comfortable, he opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It read 4:58 AM. After the previous day's events, he had been doing a lot of thinking – about Ash, about Delia, about their future.
Might as well get up, he thought as he slid out of bed. He looked out the bedroom window and saw a light on in the little white house down the street.
Looks like Delia's up, too.
Since he didn't have to attend to the Pokémon for a few hours, he decided to go for a walk, figuring that the crisp night air would help clear his mind of the thoughts that had prevented him from getting any sleep.
Delia was sitting in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea when she heard a faint tapping at the back door. Peering out the window, she was surprised to see Professor Oak shivering on her doorstep.
"Samuel? What are you doing here this time of the morning?" she asked as she opened the door.
"I couldn't sleep. I saw your light on and thought I'd take a chance that you might be up."
"Come inside. It's way too cold for you to be standing out there." Delia took his arm and pulled him into the warmth of the kitchen. "Let me get you a cup of hot tea."
"Thanks, that would be nice," Samuel said as he sat down at the kitchen table.
"So you couldn't sleep either, huh?" Delia commented as she poured him a cup of hot tea and handed it to him.
"No. Ever since Ash stopped by yesterday afternoon, I've been doing a lot of thinking. How is he, by the way?"
"He's fine. He ate almost everything in the kitchen last night. I'm going to have to go to the grocery store today." Delia sat down next to him. "So what have you been thinking about?"
"About you, me, Ash, everything. Now that he knows the truth, then perhaps it's time that we told everyone else, too. No more secrets."
"Samuel, you know we can't do that."
"I've been thinking about that, too. Delia, I've decided that I'm going to retire from teaching at Celadon U. at the end of this semester."
Delia was shocked. "Samuel, you can't do…"
"Before you say anything, Delia, I'm not doing it because of you. I've been mulling over the idea for a couple of years and now seems like the best time to do it."
"But what about your research?"
"Oh, I'll still run the lab. If Celadon University decides to stop sending me female research assistants as a result of what happened between us, then so be it. I'd hate to lose out on all that brainpower, but my loss will be Professor Ivy's gain. Besides, all this happened so long ago that it may not matter that much. We'll see."
"But don't you care what people will say about you?"
"No, Delia. I don't."
And if anyone even dares to say anything bad about you, I'll kill them.
"Besides," he continued, "I think most of Pallet Town knows that there's something going on between us, anyway. It's no secret that we spend a lot of time together. So why don't we give them something to talk about?" He reached inside the pocket of his lab coat and handed her a small box. "I meant to give you that eighteen years ago."
Delia opened the box and gasped when she saw the diamond ring inside. "Samuel?"
"You told me that you didn't want me to marry you out of obligation. Well, since Ash will be an adult and off on his own next year and I'm not going to be teaching anymore, it looks like we'll be free of our obligations." He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his. "So Delia, will you marry me?"
"Oh, yes, Samuel! Yes!"
After he slipped the ring on her trembling finger, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him so hard that both of them fell to the floor.
"Oh, Samuel! Are you all right? How's your back?"
"I think it's all right," he said as he tried to stand up. "But I think we need to do this in the bedroom."
Delia helped him up. "Much as I'd like to, I don't want to take the chance of waking Ash."
"What about the guest bedroom down here?"
Delia smiled roguishly.
---
A couple of hours later, Ash walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see both his mother and Professor Oak sitting at the table eating breakfast.
"Good morning, honey," said his mother. "Did you sleep well?"
"Hello, Ash," said Professor Oak. "I stopped by to have a talk with your mother and she invited me to stay for breakfast."
Ash was used to seeing the two of them together, but now that he knew that these were his parents sitting there…well, it was kind of weird.
"Sit down, Ash," his mother instructed. "We would like to discuss something with you."
Uh-oh, that didn't sound good. Did the two of them have another secret that they forgot to tell him yesterday?
"Ash," Delia began, "now that you know the truth about us, we've decided that it's time that we told everyone else the truth, too."
"What do you mean?" Ash asked.
Delia held out her hand to show her son the diamond ring sparkling on her finger. "Samuel asked me to marry him."
"Whoa." Ash's eyes opened wide as he stared at the ring. "I don't get it, Professor Oak. What about your career?"
"I've decided to retire from teaching at Celadon University. That way I can spend more time with your mother." He smiled in Delia's direction.
"Aw, man. I wanted to take your Pokémon biology course next year."
"Don't worry about that, Ash. I can give you the full lecture. Besides, I think you'll learn a lot more about Pokémon when you and your mother move into my place."