Summary: Despite his better judgment, Brock agrees to an illicit affair with the Saffron City Gym Leader. That was his first mistake. His second was falling in love with her. His third was buying her a sea breeze on her birthday. Mangashipping.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Thanks everybody for handing in so far. As a reward, this chapter is like 50/50 manga/poke.
6. The Forbidden Fruit: Citrus paradisi – The Annunciation
Sabrina forced her eyes open as she felt the first rays of sunshine burn against her closed lids.
She smiled at the sight that beheld her. It was a strange thing to wake up to the sight of your husband of almost two weeks, but it was a nice feeling that filled her whole body with warmth. She had always wondered what it would be like to wake up in the arms of the one you loved (or at least really, really liked, more than anybody else in the world), and the actual feeling of it left her with a wonderful sense of completeness. It was something she could definitely get used to.
In the early morning light, she carefully studied his handsome features with a soft smile. His jaw was strong and lightly speckled with stubble. He would need to shave when he woke up, but for now she could admire the way it changed the look of his face, hardening the lines that she had grown accustomed to. His nose was quite small and cute, and she had to resist the urge to plant a kiss on it while she had the chance. His hair was almost russet in colour, and stuck up in those odd spikes even in his sleep.
'My beautiful husband,' she thought to herself, her heart swelling with pride.
Her thoughts began to wander from her husband to the life that they had created; the child that was growing inside of her. She wondered what it would look like – would it have her eyes? His jaw? Her colouring or his? Regardless it would be beautiful, the perfect amalgamation of the two of them in every way conceivable.
Almost as if in response to her attention, Brock's wristwatched jumped from the bedside table to the dresser to the window sill and then back to where it had been. A smile tugged on her lips and she patted her stomach lightly, feeling the life inside her settle at her acknowledgement.
In less than two weeks, she had fallen in love with the baby inside of her. She couldn't imagine not wanting her child and she knew that her life would be so much more full for his or her presence.
"Stop staring," her husband muttered, drawing her from her thoughts. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut before opening them to meet hers. She blushed as he drew her closer, engulfing her in his warm presence.
"I was thinking about the baby," she admitted, curling her self comfortably into his chest.
"In what way?" Brock asked softly.
She shrugged. "What do you think it will look like?"
He was silent for a moment as he contemplated her question. "I don't mind," he told her, pausing to kiss the top of her head, "as long as they have your smile."
Sabrina couldn't help but smile at his response. She had never felt so cherished in her life. After absorbing that fact for a few moments, she pushed herself away and forced her body out of its comfortable position.
"Where are you going?" he asked as she got up.
"Well," she responded, "seeing as I woke up first, I think it's time for me to finally make you breakfast. You stay here," she finished with a warning tone.
"As you wish, my Princess," he answered compliantly, smiling warmly as he sat up and made himself comfortable.
The warm glow seemed to follow her to the kitchen. It all felt wonderfully normal, making breakfast in bed for her husband. Her hand rested lightly upon her belly, which seemed more noticeably enlarged now that she was aware that she wasn't merely putting on weight. In hindsight, she had no idea how she hadn't known that she was pregnant when all the signs were there.
'What shall we have?' she wondered to her self, as she looked first through the pantry and then the fridge. She was suddenly struck by a craving for cream of mushrooms on toast, but was disappointed to find that they didn't have the most necessary ingredient: mushrooms.
As though willed there by some unknown being, a bag of fresh mushrooms appeared on the kitchen bench. She looked down at her stomach with a stern look and tapped it lightly.
"You better not have taken these from somewhere you shouldn't have, little one," she warned her unborn child, "else you better prepare yourself for a fierce scolding when you come out."
A light flashed brightly, and she turned to see Brock chuckling at her and holding a camera in hand. "Not even out of the womb, and he's already getting in trouble," he laughed. "You, young man," he joked, forcing a stern tone into his voice as he bent down to be eye level with her stomach, "better listen to your mother."
"So it's a boy now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering what had made him suddenly so certain about their child's gender.
Brock nodded. "You're carrying low," he explained, "that means it's a boy."
"And where did you get this insight?"
"My mum," he replied with certainty. "She had six boys remember, and she said all of us were low. Well, 'cept for Billy . . ."
The room was silent as he trailed off, and Sabrina bit her lip nervously. "So . . . she took the news well?" she asked finally, looking shyly at the ground.
"Yup," he told her. "Everyone's pretty excited. I wasn't really worried about how my family would take it. I'm more concerned with how Ash and Misty are going to take the news. Mostly Misty."
Sabrina giggled nervously. She was worried too. There was no way to predict how the redheaded was going to take the fact that two of her friends had gotten married (and pregnant!) behind her back. Misty Waterflower was nothing if not unpredictable.
"So," Brock continued, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her cheek, "now that our little delinquent has pilfered the necessary ingredients, what can I help you with?"
"You were supposed to stay in bed," she complained huffily.
"But it was lonely there," he answered teasingly. "Can you blame me for wanting to be around the two most important people in my life?"
He made a fair point, and the fluttering in her stomach told her that the life inside of her appreciated the sentiment – the baby was always more active when he was near her like this, feeling happy and settled in his presence. However, her smile faltered as a thought occurred to her. "What are we going to do when we get back to Kanto?" she asked aloud, letting the thought sit between them.
Brock smiled. Unlike Sabrina, this was not the first time that he had wondered about their future – in fact he had asked himself the same question almost as soon as they were wed and he had been thinking about it long and hard for the two weeks that they'd been vacationing/honeymooning. "I can move to Saffron," he said simply, not even looking phased by the question.
"But what about your business?" she asked him. "And your apartment? Your whole life is in Viridian."
"Was in Viridian," he corrected. "You know that Suzie's been offering to buy me out since forever – she reckons that I should start up on my own, and it would be just as easy to do that in Saffron as Viridian. Easier actually as there isn't as much competition. And I wasn't exactly attached to that apartment.
"Plus, Saffron isn't much further from Pewter, and because it's closer to Cerulean I'll probably get to see Ash and Misty more often," he concluded.
"You would do that . . . for me?" she asked him, eyes wide in surprise over the fact that he had actually thought about it and come to such a heartfelt conclusion.
"Of course," he told her sincerely. "I want to be with you and our baby. I'd move to Sinnoh if I had to. Is that ok with you?" he added when he noticed the worried look on her face hadn't eased.
"No . . . I mean . . ." she began, finding it difficult to put her thoughts into words. "The gym's not exactly the place to raise a child," she told him with a frown. "It's more of a school than a home and all about control and restraint. Look at what it did to me."
"We could get a house," Brock suggested, a hopeful tone to his voice. "Maybe something in Lavender Town? It wouldn't be much of a commute."
Sabrina almost gasped at the thought. A real home, in Lavender no less, where she could raise children and teach them everything important beyond the watchful eye of her own teachers. A home where she could greet her husband at the end of a long day and ask him about work and all those trivial things that didn't matter, just glad to hear the sound of his voice. A home where they could celebrate Christmas and birthdays and anniversaries and all the other important events that would happen in their lives.
She had never really had a home, and until that moment she had never thought that she was missing out. Until that moment she hadn't realized how much she longed for a place that she could call hers, a place where she could lay down her roots.
A place she could call home.
So absorbed was she in these thoughts that she was startled when she felt slightly roughened fingers trail across her cheek. "Hey, Princess, don't cry," Brock whispered softly, wiping away her tears. She hadn't even realized she was crying.
"They're good tears," she assured him; taking his hand away and letting them fall freely down her face. "I would like that very much."
He gently kissed her cheek and began ushering her out of the kitchen. "Why don't you take a shower and I'll make us breakfast, ok?" Brock suggested with a warm smile, and she just nodded and let him do so.
She could definitely get used to this.
Misty Waterflower lazed across the couch, taking up every inch of space, thoroughly absorbing herself in some trashy romance novel about a billionaire playboy who changed his wicked ways for the innocent tomboy thrust into his life by unusual circumstances.
She barely looked up as her boyfriend re-entered the living room and tried to move her subtly to make himself room on the couch. In spite of her languid position, she wouldn't budge even an inch and he was forced to take a seat in an equally comfortable, but not nearly as sought after, arm chair facing her diagonally. She raised an eyebrow at his scowl, and hid her grin behind her book.
"Who was at the door?" she asked blandly, flicking her eyes back down to her book rather than her huffy boyfriend. He was clearly lamenting having to get up and answer the door, and thus having to vacate the position he had held on the couch. The lounge suite would always be a bone of contention in their relationship as neither was truly willing to share the space, even with their significant other.
"Just Brock. He was dropping back the house key," he replied nonchalantly as he tried to plan his strategy for taking back his seat. Such a battle usually ended quite pleasantly, with Misty curled up in his arms, which was in no way a reprehensible position to be in.
"How come you didn't invite him in?" Misty asked, still not looking up. There was something accusing in her voice that suggested she didn't think much of his manners.
"I did," Ash protested, defending his honour with his usual spirit. "But he said something about something. I think there was somewhere he needed to be or something he needed to do about . . . something."
"Oh?" Misty pondered aloud, finally putting down her book and pulling her feet towards her as she gave him an incredulous look. Unsurprisingly, Ash jumped eagerly to the vacated couch seat. "That's not like Brock. Did he say anything else?" she asked, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
Ash paused in recollection as he turned himself slightly towards her. "Um . . ." he began thoughtfully, taking his sweet time to remember something that occurred maybe two minutes earlier. "He said 'Thanks for letting us borrow your place, and by the way, me and Sabrina got married.' Yeah, that was it," he finished happily, pleased in his ability to remember Brock's statement word for word.
Misty took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. She crawled forward so that she was sitting on her knees and looked him directly in the eye to try and convey the seriousness of what she had to say. She used the same voice she used whenever she was annoyed with him or trying to get his attention, and it usually made him listen in spite of the overwhelming urge within him to block out the sound of her voice whenever she got that look in her eyes.
"Ash, do you notice something wrong with that?" she asked him plainly.
"Well, I guess he really should have said 'Sabrina and I' rather than 'me and Sabrina'," he commented. "It's really not proper grammar to use 'me and Sabrina'. And joining two unrelated clauses like that isn't ideal.
"I'm not really sure you're in the place to criticize Brock's grammar," he added, giving her teasingly stern look. "I've got all your letters and emails from Hoenn and Sinnoh, and your use of full stops and capitals is almost non-existent."
She rolled her eyes in response, letting that one slide seeing as they did have something far more pressing to deal with at the moment. Plus, he had just admitted something inadvertently sweet about keeping all their communications from so long ago. She would probably mallet him later for looking so smug about it, but for now she would let him get away with it.
"How about something other than grammar, Ash," she suggested in a tone that reminded him of a schoolteacher who was trying to help her student spell a difficult word. He grinned at the thought. "Something more general."
"You mean like how he said 'Sabrina' like we're supposed to know who she is?" Ash shrugged. Misty almost looked hopeful at the suggestion – he seemed to be getting closer – but her smile tightened as he continued.
"I guess that was a little rude of him," Ash shrugged. "I only know one Sabrina and she doesn't really seem like the Orange Islands get-a-way type."
Misty sighed, giving up on letting him figure it out for himself. In spite of various aspects of his life that indicated that he was in fact above average intelligence, the boy could sometimes be incredibly dense. Thankfully, it had been a long time since she had had to sit him down like this and explain things to him in such a way but it was not an easy task, and not one she particularly enjoyed.
She took his hands gently in her own and spoke slowly, making sure he paid close attention. Every word was carefully selected to make her point painfully clear. "Ash you're right," she said, felling slightly pained at having to admit this fact. The feeling was not helped by the way that Ash beamed at her admission.
"It does seem like we're supposed to know who this Sabrina is," she told him, looking deeply into his eyes to make sure he was understanding her, "and the three of us only know one Sabrina. And Sabrina Le Fay," or Slate rather, she suddenly realized, "doesn't really seem the get away to the Orange Islands and get married type," she finished, trying her best to emphasise the important words.
"What?!" Ash gaped. "Sabrina got married? As in Saffron gym leader? That Sabrina? Who to?"
"Think Ash," she commanded. He did as she said, and the pieces finally began to fall into place.
"SABRINA AND BROCK GOT MARRIED?!" he exclaimed before promptly falling off the couch in a dead faint.
Misty just shook her head at the boy as she picked up her novel and returned to the normalcy of the world of fantasy. "You see this," she muttered at the unconscious boy. "This is why we don't tell you stuff."
~ to be continued ~
I was very tempted to merge this and the next chapter, but decided I liked finishing on Misty's lament. The next chapter will have more Ash and Misty (yay!). Also if you are hanging around for the pokeshipping Chapter 11 is almost exclusively Ash and Misty.