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.
8. The Forbidden Fruit: Citrus paradisi – Garden of Earthly Delights
Sabrina was not feeling happy as they pulled up to the tenth house that day. She had thought that house hunting would be fun - it had certainly seemed fun when they were looking at property listings online and imagining their dream bungalow - but it turned out to be an incredibly depressing activity in practice.
The first house they saw was far too close to the Pokémon Tower and ruled out for obvious reasons. The next two were ridiculously expensive – both of them costing more than $600,000 for what was an average sized house with a fairly decent pool. As nice as the pools were, they seemed rather unnecessary given how close Lavender was to the ocean.
The fourth house was the size of shoebox. Oh yes, it was well within their budget (which they had determined to be about $350,000), but she did not like the thought of being cramped into less than 100 m2 with her husband, a baby and probably several Pokémon. House number five was a disgusting gothic/romantic style house, the designers clearly taking Lavender's ghostly element a little too far. She knew somebody out there would fall in love with such a house, but for her it was terribly kitsch.
The following four had their own various problems. One was a good size, but had a ridiculously small kitchen that could barely hold Brock on his own, let alone the two of them and a real estate agent. Another had probably started out perfect, but the section had been subdivided and the house was now far too close to a group of Saffron University students renting the remaining space. Another was in a sketchy neighbourhood with a few too many Team Rocket sigils stencilled on old factories for her liking, and she couldn't even begin to describe how bad the last house they looked at was.
Brock on the other hand was feeling kind of good about house number ten. It was in a good neighbourhood – just a block away from the school and an easy route to the highway. It had three bedrooms, a nice back and front lawn, and was only $300,000. The place reminded him a little of Ash's home back in Pallet, and had that same homely feel.
The real estate agent led them around the house with a cheerful smile, showing them the various rooms. The house was brightly lit and had a warm feeling to it, but something just didn't feel right about it to Sabrina. It was the best they had seen so far, but it still wasn't perfect.
Sabrina excused herself, claiming that she wanted to check out the gardens, and leaving Brock to talk to the agent about the various aspects of the house. He frowned at her, but let her go with only a brief look of concern.
Sabrina sighed once she was alone outside. She was starting to feel pessimistic about the whole idea of finding a house. Lavender wasn't that big a town, and they had probably already seen all that it had to offer, and accordingly she was starting to lose hope of finding her dream house.
'Maybe we should just get this one,' she thought sadly to herself, looking back at the bright yellow, single storey house. The colouring definitely wasn't her, but she could get used to that or - failing that - paint it something that she could stand to look at every day. It was nice enough, and maybe she was just being too picky.
She had almost talked herself into putting an offer on the lemon meringue of a house when she heard hammering from nearby. Turning in the direction of the noise, she saw a woman in a suit, hammering a 'for sale' sign into the ground outside a house just two houses down on the opposite side of the road.
'Now that's more like it,' she thought to herself, making her way down the road. The house was two stories and painted a lovely steel blue with white trimmings, and a white picket fence around the perimeter of the property. It even had an adorable little novelty mailbox shaped like a magikarp to top it off.
"It's just been put on the market," the woman who had been hammering in her sign told Sabrina, as she got close enough. "The owners are moving to Goldenrod to be closer to the grankids, and are looking for a quick sale."
Sabrina nodded, her eyes gazing over the house with pleasure. "Could I look inside?" she asked shyly, glancing at the real estate agent hopefully.
"Of course," the woman replied. "I was just about to do so myself. My name is Kylie by the way," she added, offering her hand.
"Sabrina," the psychic replied, smiling as she took the woman's hand in her own. "The house is beautiful. How many bedrooms?"
"It's got four bedrooms and a study which could be converted to an extra bedroom," Kylie told her as she opened the door and led her into the foyer. The entrance had lovely, darkly stained hardwood floors that reminded her of the mahogany desk from Brock's room on Moro Island. There was a short hallway with a lovely bright bathroom on one side, as well as staircase to the next level. On the other side was a plain wall encasing them in a short hallway that opened up into lounge area.
"I'll show you the upstairs first," Kylie suggested, leading her up the stairs. "Three of the bedrooms are up this way," the real estate agent explained, "as well as a bathroom and en-suite. I'll show you the master bedroom first."
Kylie led her to the first room with a smile. Like the downstairs, the upstairs was done with hardwood floors. The bedroom was massive with its own veranda, an en-suite and huge closet.
"That's an incredible view," Sabrina awed as she stepped out onto the small deck. Unlike the house across the street, this one looked out towards the ocean. She looked down at the garden and was happy to see such a lovely big space.
"The property's about 450m2" Kylie commented. "It's great if you have plans for expansion."
Kylie showed her around the other two rooms and the bathroom. The second bedroom would be perfect for the baby, done up in a soft green and catching the midday sun.
The two then made their way downstairs, Kylie showing her the lounge, the dining room, and the third bedroom. They then stepped into a kitchen, a beautiful, bright room that looked onto the back garden through large windows that took up the whole wall behind the sink.
"Wow," Sabrina gaped as she ran her hand against the concrete finished bench top and stared at the glass-front kitchen cabinets. "My husband would love this kitchen," she murmured softly.
"Oh crap," she said suddenly, as she remembered. "I'll be back in one second," she promised, running out of the house.
She found Brock standing outside the lemon meringue (for that is what it would always be to Sabrina) looking around worriedly for his wife. Relief washed over his features as he spotted her.
"Where have you been?" he asked her concernedly. "I was worried sick."
"Follow me," she said simply without answering the question, dragging him towards the house of her dreams. She dragged him through the entrance and lounge, not stopping until she was back in the kitchen and smiled invitingly at him, as though awaiting his approval.
"Kylie, this is my husband Brock," she told the real estate agent, introducing the pair. He blushed at the title – it was the first time that she had introduced him as such.
"It's nice to meet you," Kylie said, shaking his hand. "I take it you two are in the market for your first home?" she asked politely. "This is a good choice. The previous couple were here for almost thirty years."
"Do you mind if I show him around?" Sabrina asked her, a wide smile adorning her face.
"No of course," Kylie smiled. "I'll just be out front if you need me."
"Come," Sabrina said as Kylie left, "you have to see the master bedroom. It's wonderful."
Brock complied, letting her drag him in any direction she pleased. He was glad to see that the excitement that she had begun their day with had returned.
"This is it, isn't it?" he asked her as they stood upon the veranda overlooking the property. "This is the house."
"This is," she nodded. "I knew as soon as I saw it. And that kitchen . . . you love it don't you?" she asked him shyly.
He smiled and kissed her cheek. "I love it if you love it," he replied. "But yes, it is a great house."
She smiled back at him happily, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "It's a bit more than we expected to pay," she told him cautiously, "but it does have one extra bedroom, and that garden is huge. Kylie's gonna try to get $400,000 out of us, but they'll accept $380,000 if we can settle by the end of August."
He smiled and shook his head at her. "That's very sneaky of you, Sabrina," he teased.
"One of the joys of having a psychic for a wife," she countered.
"It's not that far away," he mused. "That only gives us a couple of months."
"I know," she replied. "But I'm sure we can do it. You said the bank were willing to lend us up to $250,000, and if we really need to, I can get the extra from my trust." She cringed at the thought of doing so, but if that's what she had to do in order to secure their future home, that's what she would do.
"Ok," he smiled, looking at her with such fondness it made her heart ache. "But leave the negotiations up to me," he suggested. "I'm good at this. I'm pretty much the reason why Ash and Misty didn't die in the wilderness during our first year together."
"Go get her, stud," she teased with a gentle kiss on the cheek, sending him off to secure their future.
"Where have you guys been?" Misty asked as Brock and Sabrina entered the waiting room at exactly nineteen minutes past four, making them exactly four minutes late for their appointment. "You're lucky the doctor was running late."
"Sorry," Sabrina apologised, dumping herself happily down on the chair beside the redhead. "We just bought a house."
"Are you serious?" Misty asked her.
Sabrina nodded excitedly. "It's beautiful. Huge bedrooms. View of the ocean. Gorgeous kitchen. It's perfect.
"Brock even managed to beat them down to $370,000," she added, smiling up at her husband who preened himself in an expression of mock pride.
"That's great," Misty replied wrapping the dark-haired woman in a one-armed hug while Brock filled them in on more specifics about the house.
"Sabrina Slate," the nurse called, drawing their attention. Sabrina shivered with pleasure at the sound of the name – she was surprised by how wonderful it sounded. With a wink of encouragement from Misty, Sabrina stood up and she and Brock followed the nurse to a plain looking room. "Dr. Montgomery will be with you in a moment."
As the nurse left them alone, Sabrina suddenly felt her nervousness setting in. After this, everything would be undeniably real. They would have absolute proof that there was in fact a baby growing inside of her and that they would soon be bringing a child into the world. It was nerve wracking and completely exhilarating at the exact same time.
"Everything will be fine," Brock told her comfortingly, squeezing her hand gently in his own, somehow knowing exactly what she needed in that moment. As she looked at him, she felt some of those anxious feelings fade away and be replaced by pure excitement.
As though sensing her thoughts and not wanting to be left out, Brock's watch suddenly disappeared off his wrist, only to appear in her hands. It was the sort of timing that made her once again wonder how she'd been so oblivious to what was going on before they'd gone away to the Orange Islands. Ever since then, the watch had become a favoured item for teleporting and transporting at unexpected times to make their presence known.
This was their baby: they would be perfect.
There was a knock on the door and a woman with copper coloured hair entered with a warm smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs. Slate," she said kindly, shaking each of their hands. "I'm Dr. Addison Montgomery."
"It's nice to meet you too," Sabrina said quietly.
"I'm just going to start by taking a bit of blood so we can run some tests to make sure everything is progressing normally, and then we're going get out the ultrasound so we can take a look at this baby," Dr. Montgomery explained as she called the nurse back to take the blood and began to gather the equipment needed for the ultrasound.
Once the blood had been collected, and a few quick questions asked on Sabrina's health, Dr. Montgomery helped Sabrina get comfortable and lift her shirt off her belly. "This is a little cold," she warned as she spread the blue gel over her stomach. Slowly a grey image began to appear on the screen. The doctor pointed to the indiscernible image, a smile in her voice as she spoke. "That there is your baby's head – you can almost see the nose," she told them. "That's its arm. Do you want to know the baby's sex?"
Brock and Sabrina quickly glanced at each other and nodded.
"Hmmm," Dr. Montgomery said slowly, causing the parents to stiffen in anticipation. "Looks to me like you two are having a healthy little baby boy."
"A boy?" Sabrina asked happily, her hand tentatively resting on top of her stomach. "We're having a little boy," she said, turning to Brock with tears in her eyes.
He smiled back and stood up to kiss her forehead. It felt so real now – no longer an 'it' or 'the baby', but a 'him' and a 'he'. Their little boy.
"I'll print you guys a picture," Dr. Montgomery told them, "and we'll need to make an appointment for some time in September to see how things are going. I'll give you a call once we have the results from the blood tests, but unless there's something to worry about, you won't need to come see me. Other than that, I'll see the both of you in two months," she finished happily.
"Thank you so much, Dr. Montgomery," Sabrina gushed. The doctor just smiled and was on her way.
Brock stared at the picture as Sabrina wiped the gunk off her stomach and made her self look decent. "He's incredible," he whispered quietly to himself, awed by the thing that they had created.
"C'mon," she said happily, tugging on his hand. "We've got some shopping to do, otherwise he'll have nothing to wear when he gets here."
He nodded, lightly kissing her cheek. "I love you, Princess," he whispered in her ear.
"I know," she replied gently. "Thank you for being so patient with me."
"I could wait forever for you, Sabrina," he promised her.
And she silently prayed that he wouldn't have to.
~ to be continued ~
I feel like this chapter makes it very obvious that I wrote this chapter in a very different housing economy.
Shout out to Mal for your reviews :) and to everyone who has favourited or followed this story!