Chapter 8

A Mother's Joy

(Seafoam Islands, Ash's POV)

Street light after street light passed overhead as Brock drove the car back to our home by the beach-side, after all of Misty's checkups were completed. I sat on the left side of the back seat taking care of Misty who was still asleep, her head lying gently on my leg as her lower body occupied the center and right seats. The rest of the night was peaceful with no incident, while Brock drove as smoothly as possible, so as to prevent Misty from suffering from any sudden knocks or movement.

"Pikachupi…" Pikachu spoke softly, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"She's perfectly fine now, buddy, don't you worry," I said, scratching him on the top of the head with a finger. "The doctor just says she needs some rest, and that she needs to take things easy from now on."

"Pi," he nodded his head to signify that he understood.

"Well, we're here," Brock announced, applying the brakes gently and turning off the headlights and ignition. "Let's get her out, Ash."

"Right," I nodded, opening the left door and bring Misty out carefully, taking her up in my arms. I entered the house as Brock unlocked and opened the door for me, and then proceeded to the bedroom, where I placed her gently on the mattress of the bed.

Upon feeling the soft surface of the bed, Misty's eyes slowly opened as she spoke. "Ash…what happened?"

"You fainted, Misty. But everything's alright now. We took you to the hospital where they carried out a lot of medical checks, and found out that you were-" I stopped, too embarrassed to continue.

"What? What's wrong with me?" she sat up, placing her hands on my shoulders with a pang of fear.

"Erm, nothing's 'wrong', Mist…it's just that erm…I…we…err…" I murmured, scratching the back of my head and looking down at her abdomen, not knowing what to say.

"Ash…am I…am I?" she flustered, slightly pulling me towards her.

"Umm…yeah, you are," I confirmed.

Just then, the light in Misty's eyes started flickering and shaking, before her shocked expression turned into one of pure joy.

"Ash! I love you!" she cried, jumping towards me and pinning me down on the bed. My head was just about the only part of my body that I could move, as I tilted it forward to look at her.

"My God, Misty! Settle down! The baby might be miscarried or something!" I wailed.

"Oh don't be silly, Ash…you obviously don't know a thing about female physiology when it comes to pregnancy. Oh, you don't know how long I've waited for this day!" she giggled.

"…female what?" I asked.

"Never mind, honey," she grinned as she drew forward for a deep kiss.

"Mmpff!" I cried in a muffled voice, feeling a sharp pain in the back of my head as she caused me to hit my head against the foot-board.

"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry, baby, are you ok?" Misty panicked, pulling me away from the hard wood and leaning back until we finally came upon the soft mattress again.

"That…hurt…" I groaned. But then again, I reminded myself that there were even worse possible pains in the world, especially from a certain mallet that my wife kept handy in a place which God knows where. And not even a searing Flamethrower attack from Charizard, or even a flat-out belly-flop from Snorlax could possibly compare.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go off to bed now, so call me if you need anyth-" Brock said coming into the room, but stopped in shock as he looked at Misty who was leaning over me like some kind of predator. "O…kay…I'm just gonna um…leave the two of you alone I guess," he said, giving us a weird look. "…goodnight?"

After Brock closed the door as left, I turned my head to Misty again. "That was…fairly weird…I thought you were supposed to be more of a tomboy, not some kind of animal, Mist. Hehehe- Mff!" I chuckled, before waving my arms frantically in the air as my voice was muffled savagely by Misty who shoved her pillow into my mouth.

"You got me pregnant in the first place, Mr. Pokémon Master! Don't blame me for being happy like any other expectant mother would!" she berated.

"Pikikikiki…" Pikachu sniggered cheekily, before dashing to the side and on top of the bed as I shot a half-glare, half-tired-look at him. Marill then simply came up to Misty and gave her a hug with its little paws, before going over to lie down next to Pikachu.

"Go to sleep, you cheeky fella," I chuckled.

"Goodnight, you two," Misty smiled.

"Goodnight, beautiful," I whispered, kissing Misty on the forehead and lips.

"…you're so silly, Ash," she giggled.

"Hey, you can't blame me for the fact that you are beautiful, Mist, can you?" I joked as we snuggled together.

"I love you Ash," Misty exhaled softly, kissing me again.

"I love you too, Mist. Let's get some shut-eye now."

(In the morning)

"Good morning, guys, and- , oh, for the love of God, put something on! Both of you!" Brock said as he entered the door, shielding his eyes with his hands in disgust after seeing the two of us awake dazedly, still half-naked.

"Sorry, Brock."

"Sorry," we both said, yawning and pulling the quilt upwards.

"Anyway," Brock said, still disturbed. "Breakfast is ready, so…I'll see you guys at the kitchen." And with that, he left our bedroom with the same look on his face he had last night.

"Well, I guess we better get moving, Mist," I yawned again.

"I always wondered how Brock gets up so early," Misty said, blinking tiredly.

"He has a lot of siblings, so it's only understandable, I guess. Now come on – you too, Pikachu and Marill. The two of you are sitting on my feet, y'know," I said, wriggling about to get my legs free.

"Pika."

"Marr," they replied, hopping off the side of the bed and going off by themselves to the kitchen.

As soon as we entered the kitchen, we were greeted by the sound of the ringing of the Video Phone. I rolled my eyes, my stomach growling furiously with impatience.

"…what now? I'm hungry!" I exhaled forcefully.

"Let me see here…" Misty said, walking over to the monitor to check the caller ID. "Hey Ash, it's your mom!" she called out to me.

"Huh? Mom?" my eyes flashed as I bounded over to the phone. "Pick it up, Mist!"

"Hello? Delia?" Misty answered the phone, as the picture came up with mom's face. "Hi, there!"

"Misty, dear, how are you? Are the two of you all settled in? How is Brock?" mom smiled.

"We're all good here, Delia. All the moving has been done, and Brock is, well…having a good time as well, I guess!" Misty grinned.

"If by 'having a good time', you mean seeing the two of you – mppff!" Brock groaned, before I covered his mouth suddenly.

"So…how are things in Pallet Town, mom?" I asked.

"Oh, things are just fine, honey! Mimey's great company, as always, and all of your Pokémon at Professor Oak's lab are doing great!" she said.

"Oh, I should tell you this, Delia – I have some great news for you!" Misty smiled.

"What is it, dear?"

"Mist, no-!" I choked softly, hoping that Mom wouldn't hear me, but it was too late.

"I'm pregnant!" Misty beamed. Mom's expression then suddenly distorted into one of true shock, before turning back into a smile, this time warmer than before.

"Ohh, that's so wonderful to hear, Misty! I'm finally going to get to see some grandchildren! This is such wonderful news!" she cried with enthusiasm, a small teardrop falling from the side of her eye.

…Oh, crap…

"I promise that I'll bring him or her over soon after I give birth in about eight months' time. Until then, take good care of yourself, Delia!" Misty smiled, waving her hand slightly.

"I'll see you too, dear! We'll talk soon again sometime! Bye now! And Ash?" Mom asked.

"What is it, Mom?" I peeped over Misty's shoulder.

"Make sure to change your underwear and shower everyday, sweetie!" she grinned. Trust mom to say something like that at the end of every conversation…

"Mo~~m!" I groaned, slapping my forehead. "I'm not traveling anymore! I'm living in a house! Of course I'm doing all that!"

"Oh, my mistake, honey! Well, have a great day, all of you!" Mom smiled, waving back at us.

"Bye!" we all said.

After the monitor went dark, I immediately walked over to the breakfast table, where Brock prepared a nice meal consisting of eggs, bacon, rice, chicken soup (of course, with all carrots removed for a certain red-headed chicken) and a cup of coffee for all of us. Also on the table was a bottle of ketchup, which Pikachu immediately sprang up to and started suckling away on, as soon as he saw it. Surprisingly, Marill had a bottle of mild and sweet mustard in hand, enjoying its contents just as much as Pikachu delighted in his ketchup.

"Weird…since when did Marill like mustard, Mist?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I…erm…aah…I have no clue, actually…weird," Misty stammered.

Then, looking out the windows, we could all see a lot of people with their kids out on the beach, as it was Saturday.

"Wow, there's a lot of people out on the beach today! And it's just morning! How early did they get there?" I said, chewing on a rasher of bacon and a spoonful of rice.

"Ash, do you even know what time it is?" Misty sighed.

"8am?" I hazarded a guess.

"Actually, it's 10:45, Ash," Brock stated.

"Wow! It's really 10:45 already?" I said, bewildered.

"I tried to wake him up at around nine, Brock…but he just kept on snoozing away, and soon enough, I fell back asleep, seeing as I wouldn't have ever wriggled out of bed with his ridiculously heavy leg lying on top of mine," Misty sighed, twirling her spoon around her chicken soup bowl. "Honey, if our baby inherits your sleeping trait, I dunno what I'm gonna do around the house, with not one, but two serial-sleepers around."

"Well, I guess you should just learn to get used to it, honey," I smiled, before feeling a kick from Misty on my foot. "Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"You earned it," Misty mumbled before chewing on a piece of chicken.

"But by the way, Mist…do you have any idea what you've done by telling mom about you being pregnant?" I asked.

"Huh? What do you mean, Ash?" she asked, her eyes widened by surprise.

"You serious? You really don't have a clue as to what's gonna happen tomorrow? This is Mom we're talking about! Have a guess, Mist."

"Sorry, Ash, but I really have no idea what you're on about," she replied, eyes wandering about.

I sighed heavily. "Now you're the dense one." And soon enough, Misty poked my nose softly in frustration.

"We should probably start looking around for cribs and stuff for the baby, though," she said after a while.

"Aww," I groaned, "Can't we do it another time? I mean, like, sometime after Brock's gone back Pewter? I'm sure he doesn't wanna spend hours looking for baby furniture with us."

"Actually, I'm perfectly fine with it! After all, you might need an extra pair of hands with moving the furniture," Brock insisted with a smile.

"Perfect! We'll all go out right after breakfast, so get ready!" Misty said, joining her hands together.

Oh, brother…how I hate going shopping now…

Hours later, we returned from our shopping, completely exhausted…well, except for Misty, who still had an active, delighted look on her face. But then again, she wasn't the one who was moving the heavy crib – it was me and Brock, who were sweating and shaking as we carefully moved the fragile furniture to where the baby's room would be. And finally, after placing it down in its intended spot, we both let out a huge sigh of relief, before heading to the kitchen to grab a cold drink. Misty followed after us with Pikachu and Marill, and opened the fridge to see what we could make for lunch, as Brock and I each drank a cold glass of lemonade. I still hadn't developed any great taste for beer, or any other kind of alcohol.

"Let's see…we can either make some tuna sandwiches, cook some noodles, or…" she said looking into the fridge, before being interrupted by the sound of the Video Phone's speaker.

"You have…one new message. You now have a total of…158 new messages, and… 265 missed calls," its mechanical voice stated.

Oh, dear…

I rubbed my forehead. "This was what I was tryna tell you about, Mist," I sighed. Right now, I didn't even think that we'd be able to eat. Things were only made worse in my mind as I imagined the mailman coming over tomorrow morning with literally a travel-bag sized amount of letters, handing it over to me and saying, 'Here, Mr. Ketchum. They're all yours'.

"Well, why don't the two of you get started on reading them? I'll get some cold noodles ready while you're at it," Misty said, grabbing a packet of soba noodles out of the fridge. Both Brock and I were completely unafraid of Misty's cooking now, compared to back in the day when her cooking tasted like some kind of hell-spawn. She had improved dramatically over the years we had been apart, to the point where I couldn't choose between her and Mom's cooking, and even sometimes that of Brock.

"Okay then," I said, walking to the monitor with Brock. Looking at the list of messages we received, most of the names were the same from the people who sent us congratulatory letters after our wedding: Misty's sisters, Tracey, the Maples, Dawn, Bianca and Lorenzo, the Orange Islands Gym Leaders…even a few from Gary, Paul and Anabel from the Battle Frontier, who I haven't heard from for years. But just as I was about to click on one of them to view its contents, the screen suddenly came up with an incoming call, giving me an unpleasant fright.

"Oh my God!" I cried, before sighing. "…I wish this thing could be a little more…quieter…"

"Who's calling Ash?" Brock asked, peering over my shoulder.

"Let's see here…" I said, clicking for the caller ID. "Hey, it's Sabrina!"

"Sab…sa-sa-sasasasa-Sabrina?" Brock stammered. "Well, what are you waiting for? Accept it, Ash!" he cried out somewhat desperately. Smirking, I clicked on the 'accept' button on the monitor, prompting Sabrina's picture to show up.

"Hi guys, it's me, Sabrina!" she smiled, waving her hand delicately towards us. Her hairstyle had noticeably changed, from her usual straight style to a wavy, elegant perm.

"Haunter, Haunt!" Haunter smiled mischievously at us, before giving Sabrina a wide lick across the face before shimmering away.

"Gaah! Haunter, I really wish you'd stop doing that! Especially when I've got my makeup on!" Sabrina complained, pulling out a silver handkerchief out of her pocket and cleaning her face.

"Oh, Sabrina! Hi!" Misty rejoiced, quickly turning on the gas to boil the water before joining me and Brock at the monitor. "How's everything?"

"Hi, Misty! Long time no see! I haven't seen you in person since your wedding! Well, things have been going pretty fine for me lately, I guess. But I'm sort of bored over here. I mean, I've had quite a number of challengers, but, umm…let's just say that Alakazam didn't need to try that hard, and he tried to finish every match quickly so he can go play with Haunter. I swear, Haunter is quite a bad influence on him…" Sabrina sighed.

"Hehehe, that's good to hear that the two of them get along so well!" Misty chuckled, holding her hand over her mouth. "But why are you dressed up and have makeup on and everything? I thought you don't take any challenges on weekends! Are you going out soon?"

"Umm…no…" Sabrina said in a low voice, a cherry-red blush developing in her cheeks as she looked down and sideways while cracking a small smile.

"Party at your place?"

"No…"

"Meeting anyone?"

"No!" Sabrina insisted before giving Brock a loving glance, causing him to become all flustered.

"…was it for Brock? Come on – you can be honest with me, Sabs. Tell me," Misty grinned cheekily.

"I…erm…hehehe…" Sabrina chuckled, twirling around several strands of hair from her fringe as she looked down in embarrassment. "I guess…you could say that…"

Looking over my shoulder and up at Brock, I saw nothing but smiles and more smiles as he looked on at the monitor, speechless.

"So anyway…how have you been, Brock? Good?" Sabrina beamed towards Brock.

"I've been…aah…good! Very good, in fact! My younger brother Forrest can take care of all my siblings while I'm gone now, so I don't think there would be any problems back home! …I think…I hope," Brock smiled, before looking up to the ceiling in uncertainty. "Anyway, how about you?"

"Well, to be honest, a lot of the male trainers who come over here seeking the Marshbadge have been…slightly annoying…you see, right after a match finishes, and in some cases, even before it begins, they actually ask me out for a date, dinner, or some other thing. While I was…you know how I was before you three showed up for the first time, I hardly even got any challenges from trainers because they were all afraid of me. After you brought me back, I've had a few trainers occasionally who said that I was beautiful, that I was so amazing, et cetera. And it was alright and I sort of appreciated it, because I only saw their type about just twice a month. But now, it's quite a different story, with at least three per week. Hell, one guy even went as far as to kneel down and propose to me then and there after our match! It's driving me nuts!" Sabrina wailed, holding her cheeks with her hands and shaking her head to and fro.

"Oh…I see, then…" Brock said, a tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Oh, don't worry at all, Brock! You'll always be my number one!" Sabrina chimed happily, making Brock smile again in relief. "I reject them every time, although I admit I hate to see their sad faces. I learnt it from none other than you, Misty!" she winked.

I smiled, remembering just how long I was away for during my travels and hardly ever finding the time to contact Misty. I couldn't begin to imagine just how many trainers asked her out or to become their girlfriend, considering how beautiful she was. And how I was eternally grateful that Misty was loyal with her love for me, for all those years…

"That's so good of you, Sabrina!" Misty smiled. "But then again, you've learnt from no-one but the best when it comes to staying loyal to your partner, didn't you?"

"I sure have, Misty. I sure have," Sabrina replied. "Oh! I called up to ask you this, but almost forgot to! How is the pregnancy going, Misty?"

"It's going just perfect Sabrina! I'm due in approximately eight months, but we haven't found out the gender of the baby yet," Misty explained.

"…wanna find out right now? After all, I'm psychic!" Sabrina winked again.

"…I thought psychics could only read minds?" I mumbled, scratching my head.

"We can do that, and much more, Ash," Sabrina smirked, moving her index finger from side to side like a metronome. "So, do you wanna find out?"

I looked at Misty, shrugging to signify that it was completely up to her.

"No thanks, Sabs. It's alright. We'll just find out when I actually give birth," Misty smiled.

"Okay, that's fine! So…anything else going on?"

"Well, I was wondering, Sabs, but…" Misty pondered, before looking up at Sabrina optimistically. "How would you like to be my baby's godmother?"

"Huh? Me? A godmoth-? *cough cough*" Sabrina choked, making all of us laugh, before replying with a strange and rather uncomfortable look on her face. "Well…I don't see anything wrong with it!"

"Really? Cos' you look like you just swallowed a Swinub after inhaling spores from a Vileplume!" I laughed.

"Oh, no no no no no! I'm perfectly fine with it! I like it! It's just that…it was a shock at first, y'know?" Sabrina said, fanning her face with her hand. "But who'll be the godfather, then?"

"Why…Brock here, of course!" Misty laughed, patting Brock on the arm. Both Brock and Sabrina exchanged awkward glances and grins, embarrassed by Misty's statement.

"Misty…we're not married, y'know!" Sabrina said, her face totally red as she held her hand over her mouth and nose.

"Yeah…" Brock stated, "…at least not yet!"

Sabrina's face was now redder than the top half of a Voltorb, as she looked at us again. "I…err…have to go now! But I'll see you all soon! Oh, and Brock?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm taking a week's break from the gym sometime next month. I'll be sure to come over to stay with you, if that's alright."

"R-really? That's great! I've hardly had any time to spend with you! I'll be looking forward to it!" Brock exclaimed, his eyes wilder than every single encounter he had ever had with a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny, combined.

"Alright then, see ya later, Sabs! Take good care of Brock while you're over there – he'll need it!" Misty giggled as she waved, moving her hand over to the End Call button.

"Bye, Sabrina!" I waved.

"Bye, Ash! Bye, Brock! I love you!" Sabrina waved at me and blew Brock a kiss.

"B…ba…ba…bye, Sabrina!" Brock sniffed, on the verge of shedding tears of joy, before the monitor switched back to the Messages screen.

"Well, read on, you two. I'm going back to making lunch," Misty said, returning to check on the boiling water and noodles.

"Okay, Mist. Oh, and I almost forgot – your sisters sent a message as well!" I told her.

"Okay, Ash. I'll check it once lunch is ready!" she called back.

"This is gonna be one looong day, Brocko," I exhaled deeply, clicking on the message from Professor Oak, which was first in the list, to start an excruciatingly long series of reading and answering emails.

"It sure is, Ash," Brock agreed, "It suuure is…"

(End of Chapter 8)

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a bit short – Chapters 8 and 9 are mainly designed to be transition chapters, so they aren't that long. Chapter 10 may be a bit lengthier.

I was thinking of starting off Chapter 9 as a flash-forward eight months later, when Ash and Misty's child is born. I don't really wanna dwell on stuff that might happen in between then, because I'm not interesting in writing about those kind of things. TheFifthCharmedOne pulled it off quite well in the first part of her trilogy, 'In My Heart', but I'm not really into writing about stuff that happen in between. You should go find and read it, though – the chapters are only about 2000 words long each, but the plot is very good that it keeps you interested.

My school's end-of-year Speech Night Concert ends on November 29, so after that, I'll be writing a lot more, and making updates much more often…unless of course, I'm distracted by PS3, FIFA and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which may be a likely outcome… -_- . I'm also thinking about composing some music as well. ^_^

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