Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.

Main Pairing: AshxPaul

Rating: M (to be safe)

Chapter Warning(s):

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!

Please don't forget to head over to A03 for the discord link! You don't need an A03 account to do it.

UU Two, good question! The cosmetic genetic mutations won't have any kind of affect on Mega Evos/Dynamax/Gigantamax. Now say if Ash got a pokémon with a physical genetic mutation like a deformed foot, or had gotten a pokémon that somehow lost a foot or tail then it would be a completely different story.

A/N: Just letting y'all know that not much happens in this chapter. It was just so hard to write and ended up being a bit more filler-ish with small snippets of Ash being home than what I wanted the chapter to be. I promise the next chapter will be much more fulfilling!

Enjoy!

Moving his things from his room to the attic was tiring, Ash had found out. He had told his mother about the phone call he had gotten from Lance, and while worried for Silver and fretting over the information dump Ash had given her about her late husbands' family, she had started to bustle around the house to get it cleaned up. Ash had taken the task to get a few things that had needed fixed for a while now done, like the hole in the wall behind the front door, a loose tile in the kitchen, replacing the screen door that led outside, and oiling a few hinges here and there.

While he waited for things to dry he had told his mother that he would be fine moving his things to the attic. Seeing as Silver was kept in the attic at the mansion, he had offered to move so Silver could take his room. He was hardly there anyway because of his journey and job. He had enough money to splurge a bit on the attic space and had ended up making a really cozy room up there. There was enough room for him to set up an area for his smaller pokémon to hang out in.

Pikachu and Riolu had quickly settled down into the nest-like area to watch their trainer move things around the attic room.

Even Mr. Mime hustled to get everything clean before KCPS got there.

Thankfully they got everything done days before the people arrived and all Ash and his mother could do was wait until they knocked on the door. So Ash went to go to what he did best to get his mind off the inevitable visit.

He went to his pokémon.

"Ash," Oak greeted the teen with a smile after Ash had walked through the doors, "may I see you for a moment?"

"Of course," Ash said as he followed the man into his lab, where the Professor did all of his own projects both private and classified. The older man sat down in a chair and gestured for Ash to sit down in the other chair as he grabbed a folder.

"What's going on Professor?" Ash asked as Pikachu hopped down onto his lap and Ash started to run his fingers over the static filled fur.

"Well there's a few things I've noticed in the routine blood tests I performed on your pokémon," Oak said, "nothing bad, but I wanted to bring it to your attention."

"Okay," Ash said and held Pikachu just a bit tighter.

"I've found a bit of calcium deficiency in both Nidoking and Krookodile. It's mild, and early caught, so it can get reversed quickly, but that is something to keep an eye on. Zoroark is a bit anemic," Oak said as he flipped through a few pages to get to the foxs' profile, "again early caught and something that can be easily fixed. And lastly both Gardevoir and Leafeon have high amounts of Relaxin in their tests."

"Relaxin?" Ash asked, a bit confused over the word, but he took mental notes over what Oak was telling him.

"A hormone that female pokémon produce when they gravid," Oak explained, "meaning that Gardevoir and Leafeon are pregnant."

"O-Oh," Ash stuttered as he sat back in his chair.

"They can't fight for the next few months," Oak said, "meaning that they cannot fight with you in the League battles, unless they deliver early, abort or miscarry the pregnancy, or reabsorb the egg."

Ash nodded as he ran a thumb over Pikachus' ear. "Okay," Ash said, "That won't be a problem. I can work around that. They just need to rest so they can deliver healthily."

"Other than that everyone else is doing great," Oak said as he sent Ash a smile. Ash, still reeling from the news, sent the older man a shock filled smile and nodded before standing up, with Pikachu in his arms, to go to the pastures. He barely remembered the walk outside of the lab and only snapped out of it when he heard his Tyrantrum let out a greeting roar. He gave pets and scratches as his pokémon surrounded him and gave his congratulations to Gardevoir and Leafeon. Gardevoir let out a twinkling laugh while Leafeon averted her eyes and tried to hide her face with her paw.

From the corner of his eye Ash could see a Gallade, the shiny one that Gardevoir had been cozy-ing up with weeks ago, and the large Umbreon, that Leafeon had been close to at the same time, standing close to each other as they watched Gardevoir and Leafeon. He would have shooed the baby daddies away if it weren't for the fact that they would be the ones protecting his girls, in his and his pokémons' stead when they were gone from the pastures, while they carried their young.

He just sent the two a look before addressing his pokémon of what is going on. Nidoking, Krookodile, and Zoroark were going to be sitting out of any training until they were fully healthy again while Gardevoir and Leafeon were sitting out for the next few months. For now he would put the others through the paces in preparations for the League. He wanted to get Luxio and Riolu evolved and possibly Larvesta and Snom to evolve as well. Bug types were generally quicker to evolve than the other types.

Charizard, after Ash had released them to train, quickly took Riolu and Larvesta out into the fields and soon enough the albino was releasing a stream of ruby red fire into the air followed by a lighter red stream from Larvesta. Ash heard Riolu let out a few barks as he turned to the rest of his pokémon. Pikachu went off with Luxio while Persian and Ninetales took Snom with them to the pond. Kingdra and Aegislash went with Tyrantrum to the middle of the field where they began to spar.

Ash took Zoroark, Nidoking, and Krookodile to rest under the shade of a tree and got out his grooming kit. It was relaxing, for him at least, to run a brush through fur or to file claws until they were sharp enough to cut through metal. Ash cleaned their teeth and pulled dry scales off and buffed the teal bangle Zoroark had in his mane. He was sure his pokémon were getting a bit restless, and even annoyed, just laying there while he meticulously groomed them, but they stayed still and relaxed as they could see the stress and tense body language their trainer had.

Soon enough his fingers were aching and his arms felt as though they were made of lead so he had to stop the grooming he was doing. He ended up laying down as Zoroark laid on top of him, pinning him to cool grass, and as he laid there, mind blissfully not on the topic of the KCPS, he couldn't help but fall asleep to the soothing rumble coming from Zoroark and the soft sounds of tails sweeping over grass as Krookodile and Nidoking conversed quietly.

"Hello, I'm Irina Crane with the KCPS," the woman said after Ash had opened the front door, "I'm looking for Delia Ketchum. This was the address I was given, is she here?"

"Yeah," Ash said as he nodded and opened the door wider for her to step inside, "she's my mom. I'm Ash. Please come in."

Pikachu, who had peered through the kitchen doorway to the front door, dashed back into the kitchen as Ash led Irina into the room. The mouse jumped up onto the table, where a bowl of food sat for him and Riolu to munch on, and inspected the woman as she approached his trainers' mother. Ash ran his fingers over one of Pikachus' ears as he half listened to what his mother and the social worker was talking about.

He heard a few words here and there as the woman basically interrogated his mother before his wonderful mother began to show her around the house. As his mother showed Irina the backyard he went upstairs only to take another set of stairs to the attic room. He heard Zoroark let out a sleepy growl before stopping as his illusionist saw that it was just him. Riolu, who was curled up beside Zoroark on his bed, let out a grumpy huff as the pup turned to bury his face into the Zoroarks' warm fur.

Ash reached over and gave Zoroark a scratch on his ear and softly told the fox that there was someone in the house and that he didn't need to attack her if she came into the room. Persian, who was curled up on the nest Ash made on the other side of the room, let out a small chuff as she went back to grooming Luxio. He sadly wasn't able to have his other pokémon in the room as they were too heavy for the floor, or too tall for the room to be comfortable. The others were at the pastures instead having a rest day before they got back to training.

As he laid down on his bed he grabbed a book Riley had given him before he had left to continue on where he had left off. The book wasn't terribly dull, having a few interesting sections, but Ash did his best to get through the text while retaining the information he was reading. He had gotten through the last half of the chapter when he heard footsteps come up the stairs. He quickly put the book under his pillow, not wanting Irina to see the very obvious Aura text in his possession, before grabbing his watch to make it seem like he was on it the entire time.

"Ash?" he heard his mother call out before soft taps were heard on his door.

"Come in!" he called out as he placed a hand on Zoroarks' back. He looked over at Persian and Luxio, who were alert to the sound. The door to his room was opened and his mother poked her head into the room before opening the door all the way. He heard his mother murmur something to Irina just before they stepped in. He watched Irina as she looked around, but stayed where she was as she spotted the various pokémon lounging in the room.

"Well everything seems to be in order," Irina said as she wrote a few things down on a notepad she had in her hands, "I'll take what I have back to the office with me and I'll give you a call tomorrow about arrangements. I don't see why Mr. Caine can't be moved here and stay in your custody."

Delia sent her a smile and thanked her before leading her out of the room and down the stairs. Ash stayed in his room for a few minutes before getting up to go down to join his mother in the kitchen. Irina had already left the house, but he could see her car still parked in front of his home.

"Well," Delia said as she began to grab things to make some cookies, "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a bit stressed and in the mood to bake. Join me?"

Ash let out a chuckle and nodded as he went to wash his hands.

"Riolu! Be gentle!" Ash said as he saw his pup bite down on Charizards' tail making the larger albino pokémon let out a roar in pain. He let out a sigh as he saw Charizard swish his tail to knock Riolu off his tail and sent him flying towards Persian and Luxio. Riolu let out a few sharp barks as he got up and ran over to Ash.

Ash knelt and took a look at Riolus' teeth when the pup let out a few whimpers and saw that one of his canines had popped out when he bit Charizard. He let out a sigh as he grabbed a potion to spray the area before walking over to Charizard as the pseudo-dragon sniffed at his tail. He saw a shiny tooth in the scales and very carefully pulled it out before spraying the area with the potion he still had in his hand.

"You need to be more careful," Ash said to Riolu, "No more biting our teammates like that, okay?" His Riolu let out another whine before giving Ash a nod. Ash gave Riolu an oran berry to snack on while he walked over to check on the others. He had told his mother that he was going to be leaving soon again to go train his pokémon for the League, and he wanted to make sure that everyone was prepared. Oak had given him some supplements to give Zoroark, Nidoking, and Krookodile while Leafeon and Gardevoir would be staying in the pastures until they recovered from giving birth. Even then Ash would have to send Oak blood samples from the three while they were gone, but that was easily done at a Center.

"Ha! You can't even get your pokémon under control," came a very familiar voice from behind him. Ash jerked a bit from the sudden noise, but quickly turned around and spotted Gary not far from where the pack decided to gather. The teen had grown a bit, about a head taller than he was, from when he last saw him last.

"Gary," Ash said as he straightened his posture and felt Riolu hide behind his leg, "my pokémon are just fine."

"I doubt that," Gary said as he let out a huff and Ash saw him glance up and down his body. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable and all he was getting was the same feeling he got when Zeke had tried to-. Ash mentally shook his head of those thoughts. He didn't need that right now.

"What do you want? A battle?" Ash asked as he spotted Persian and Luxio behind Gary, crouched down and ears pinned back, ready on his signal should Gary try anything untoward to him.

"No," the taller teen simply said, "I think I'll save that battle until we're on live television in League."

"Fantastic," Ash said sarcastically, "If that's all I need to get my pokémon ready."

"No it's not," Gary said as he took a step closer, but that was as far as he got as Nidoking and Tyrantrum let out low growls, "I have, let's call it, a proposition for you."

Ash narrowed his eyes as he looked at Gary closer. "And what is this 'proposition?'" Ash asked as he took a slight step back.

"Be my boyfriend," Gary said bluntly as he crossed his arms over his chest, "and I won't tell your mother that you're dating an abusive neanderthal of a man."

Ash could feel his heart skip a beat as he heard this 'proposition'. "How dare-?!" Ash began but stopped as Gary cut him off.

"Oh Aunt Delia," Gary said as he acted sad and frantic, "you won't believe what I saw! That Paul guy Ash has been seeing, hit him! It was so hard that it threw Ash to the ground!"

"She wouldn't believe you," Ash said as calmly as he could.

"Are you sure about that?" Gary said with a smirk on his face, "Well, what's your answer? Me, or him?"

Ash took a deep breath and relaxed his hand, not noticing when he had clenched it into a fist, before speaking. "Him. One hundred and ten percent him," Ash replied as he clasped his shaking hands, "I don't know what made you want to do this. Trying to blackmail someone, someone who doesn't even like you, into being your significant other. That's not how you go about finding someone to be by your side through thick and thin and will love you no matter what. If I were you and had to resort to something like this, I'd get some fucking help, because you obviously need it."

"Leave," Ash said after a moment of them staring at each other in silence. He had better things to do than entertain Gary and his delusions. "Persian, Luxio, herd!" Ash said a moment later as it looked like Gary wasn't going to leave. Persian let out a snarl and leapt forward one way while Luxio leapt the other way and began to herd Gary, who had jumped in fright at their sudden appearance, back towards the Labs and away from their trainer.

"What the fuck is going through his head?" Ash wondered out loud before asking much more frantically, "What the fuck just happened?"

The only answer he got was his pokémon coming closer to either comfort him or to protect him.

"Right this way Mr. Caine," a slightly familiar female voice wafts in through his open window. A few days had passed since the Gary encounter at the pastures, and it was the day that Silver was coming. He had told Oak about what his grandson did and was assured that the older man would handle it.

Ash didn't hear a response before a knock came from below making him get up. He heard his mother answer the door then after a moment he heard it close, but there were muffled voices coming from below. Ash let out a sigh as he got up to join them, with Pikachu ever present on his shoulder, and Riolu trailing behind them. The pup didn't want to be picked up.

Ash found them in the living room, and hung back a bit as he heard Irina give out a few last statements and that she would be back in a couple of weeks to check on Silver before she left. He peeked his head through the door frame and saw his mother give the still thin teen a small smile before asking if he was hungry.

"I'm just tired Ms. Ketchum," came a soft reply from Silver.

"Please dear," his mother said as she stood up, " you can call me Delia or Aunt Delia, but I suppose if you are not too comfortable with those then Ms. Ketchum is just fine."

"A-Aunt Delia," Silver murmured with a small nod.

"Ash!" Delia said as she spotted Ash in the doorway, "Would you be a dear and show Silver to his room?"

"Sure," Ash said as Riolu let out a couple of barks and ran up to Delia with a small whine, "Sorry. I guess he's a bit hungry."

"It's no problem," Delia said as she reached down and gave Riolu a few scratches, "It's about lunch time anyway. Silver, I'll leave a plate for you in the fridge in case you get hungry later before dinner unless you want to join us here in a bit in the kitchen."

Ash watched Silver nod to his mother before his mom went back to the kitchen and got up from the couch to follow Ash. He went slow, seeing as Silver had a slight limp, and showed him to his old room. He apologized to Silver about how bare it was in the room, and told him that if he wanted anything to decorate it then he could ask Delia or even himself. All he got was a small nod before Ash left to give Silver some space. He decided to head back down to the kitchen and watched his mother walk back and forth from the counter tops to the stove top.

"What are you making?" Ash asked as he ran a hand over Riolus' ears just as the pup bit into a sweet berry his mother must have given him.

"Just some chicken for a salad," Delia replied, "is he settling in?"

"Mhmm," Ash hummed as he nodded his head and sat down at the table, "I think after lunch I'm going to head to the pastures again. Riolu is getting really close to evolving and I want to check up on my egg." Just the other day Oak had asked him if he could study the egg seeing as they didn't have the Jangmo-o line in Kanto. He wanted to know how it reacted to different stimuli and what was the best conditions to keep the egg so it would produce a healthy baby.

"Alright," she said while sending her son a knowing look, "perhaps see if Silver would want to go. It would do him some good to get some sun. The poor boy is so pale."

"Okay," Ash said before falling silent and letting the familiar sounds of his mother chopping vegetables fill the air. He was content in staying like that before a question, one he had been wanting answered for quite a while now, filled his head with more and more questions.

"Mom," Ash said silently and he waited until he saw her look at him, "why didn't you tell me about Dad and his family?"

Ash watched as her hold on the knife she was using became slack for a moment before she gripped the handle tightly once more. Her face became stoic, but he saw that she had bitten her bottom lip and she had grief filling her eyes. He kept quiet as he waited for her to answer the question and only a few minutes later did he get it.

"I met Renato when I was nineteen, he was twenty-three," Delia began to say, "I was in Johto at the time taking classes to learn how to take care of pokémon to become a Caretaker at Oaks' labs. He was there to learn about the genetics of pokémon. Renato said he always wanted to be a Pokémon Professor ever since he was small. We met up a few times here and there and got to know each other. I learned that he was really good at poker, and had a soft spot for small kids and tiny pokémon. One day, about a year after we met, he asked me out on a date and I said yes. A few months went by and he proposed. It was so cute how he did it."

"He had got this Houndour a few weeks before," she continued the words, now being spoken after so long, just seemed to flow out without pause, "He had wrapped a bright blue bow around her neck and sent her to me with a note in the bow. 'Will you pretty please make my daddy the happiest man in the world?' the note said and when I looked up he was kneeling on one knee a little bit away while holding up a shiny ring. I said yes, and after a few years to finish up college we got married. It was small. He had his friends and I had mine and my family. I had asked him about his family, but all he said was that he was estranged from them. He didn't want to go into the family business and so he left after having a huge fight with his mother."

"I didn't ask him about them again after that," Delia said softly, a small smile graced her face, "After six months of being married I found out I was pregnant with you. He was so excited! I remember the day I told him. I had gotten this gift bag and put in a pair of small boys shoes and a shirt in his size saying something about being a dad. I can't remember what it said, but I remember Renato just breaking down into tears and hugging me so tightly. We spent the next six months preparing your nursery and the house for your arrival. Then two months before you were due there was a knock at the door at three in the morning from the police department. They told me that my Renato was killed while on the way back home from a work trip. The plane he was in crashed into the ocean. As far as I know they've never found the plane or any survivors from it. I know I should have told you about him, but it hurt so much knowing that he would never get to meet you, the beautiful, healthy, baby boy he was so excited to finally hold."

Ash stayed silent throughout her explanation and once it was over he didn't know how to feel. Renato certainly didn't sound like he would have been the brother to Giovanni, but the DNA tests don't lie. Ash nodded to his mother and thanked her as he tried to process everything she had just told him. He absentmindedly ate the food Delia placed in front of him until it was gone, but he was able to at least tell her that he loved her and thanked her for telling him about his Dad before leaving the house.

He didn't remember the walk to the pastures, but he did remember Persian leading him to the tree he always sat at and curled up by him with the rest of his pokémon surrounding him like they had done a few days ago.