Hi and hello! Chapter 18 of Inconceivable is here, with another non-indicative title and a possible twist ready to go. What's in store this week? You know the drill folks, so curtain up!
A/N: I made a VERY minor edit to the last chapter regarding the length of their stay in Ecruteak. It turns out specializing in ancient languages forces you to compromise some other skill, and that skill is numbers! (Thanks Neonz for catching the error).
A/N 2: I know next to NOTHING about doctor visits related to pregnancy; the opening exchange is based on what little I do know and have researched. Any errors are my own.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon; Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri do. Title credit is The Waiting by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
INCONCEIVABLE
CHAPTER 18-THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART
May sat in the exam room with Sandra by her side, waiting for the doctor to report on her condition. The attending physician, like Sandra, had been surprised that May had waited so long to see someone, especially with her relative youth, but repeatedly assured her that she and the child were in no obvious danger. Both May and Sandra expressed relief, and May felt herself relax a bit. Ash would be happy to hear she was alright, and the girls would want to know she was okay as well.
"I'm so nervous, Sandra," May said, looking at the ground in front of her. "I know he said there's nothing to worry about, but I can't help but worry. That's normal, right?"
"It's perfectly normal to be a little concerned. I certainly was when I had Mary and Kathryn. You'll be fine, Haruka, you and the baby. After all, you've got a wonderful young man taking care of you, so keep your head up." May smiled to herself and watched the door for the doctor to reappear, which he did after about ten minutes. Along with his clipboard, he had several sheets of paper in his other hand.
"Miss Igawa?" May nodded and the doctor smiled. "I'm pleased to inform you that the baby is developing normally, and we found no obvious problems from the tests we ran."
"That's good," May said, feeling some of her nerves disappear.
"We also determined that you should be due in early-to-mid-January. Considering how far along you are, I would encourage you to come back every couple of weeks so we can monitor how you're doing and continue to check on the baby's condition."
"Thank you, sir." May gestured towards the sheets of paper in the doctor's hand. "What are those?"
"Oh, these? These are the images we obtained from the ultrasound we performed. We use them to check the development of the baby, and we made a few copies for you to take with you." The doctor handed them to May, who felt a tear come to her eye as she realized she was actually looking at her child for the first time.
"Wow," was all May could say as she gazed at the scans. Sandra smiled as she looked at the pictures herself. The doctor gave them a minute or two to look, then cleared his throat again.
"Now, because you're as far along as you are, we were able to determine whether your child will be a boy or a girl. However, I will defer to your judgment as to whether you wish to know."
"I've thought about that a bit," May admitted, putting the scans down on the chair next to her. "My boyfriend and I talked it over, and we'd actually like to wait until the baby is born to find out. I know it sounds silly and sentimental, but we want our first child to be a suprise."
"Very well. I will respect your wishes, Miss Igawa. If you change your mind, we can definitely tell you."
"Thank you so much." May and Sandra shook hands with the doctor, and they exited the building to the bustling street outside.
After a few minutes of walking, May spoke again.
"Satoshi will be thrilled to see those scans. He may not say it a lot, but I can tell he's eager to know how his baby is doing."
"He really does care about you, Haruka. Didn't he say he wanted to come with you?"
"He did say that, but I wouldn't let him take off work. Even though his role in the project is coming to an end soon, I told him we couldn't afford it."
"That was probably wise, then. I wouldn't let Biff come with me when I was first pregnant with Mary, but for a different reason. I'm sure Satoshi's still thinking about you, though."
"He never stops." With this reassuring thought in mind, May walked with Sandra back to the apartment.
Once they got back, they found Mary sitting in the armchair with her ever-present book while Kathryn played with Glaceon. Pikachu was half-asleep in the corner, vaguely keeping an eye on proceedings. As they entered, May headed for the couch, while Mary gave way to allow her mother to sit down.
"So how'd it go?" Kathryn asked, pausing in her activity. May closed her eyes for a moment, then answered.
"It went fine, Kathryn."
"What did the doctor say? When's the baby gonna come? How...?" Sandra cut her daughter off before she could ask any more questions.
"Kathryn, I think it would be best if you left Haruka alone for a bit. She's got to be tired from all this, and it doesn't help for you to be asking one question after the next."
"But I really want to know, Mom!" Kathryn gave her mother the typical defiant look she always wore when this happened, and Sandra sighed. "I may be just a kid, but I want to know. I want to help, I..."
"Kathryn," Sandra warned, but May interrupted.
"Sandra, it's okay. She's curious, and it's not exactly secret anymore. How about if I tell her what we know, but you can stop me if it's something you don't want her hearing. How's that?" Sandra considered, then nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Kathryn," May began, "the doctor told me that I'm going to have the baby in January. That's just over two and a half months away, so we have time until then. He said there's nothing wrong with me or the baby, and offered to tell me whether it will be a boy or girl."
"Which is it? Oh, I hope it's a girl..."
"I actually asked him not to tell me. Since this is my first baby, I want it to be a surprise."
"What? You don't want to know yet? But it's better to know before, right, Mom?"
"Actually, Kathryn, I didn't know either. When I had you and Mary, we only found out when you were born."
"That's no fun! It makes buying clothes and stuff harder, right?"
"Actually, I'd say it's more fun to shop with your baby there. That way, you can show them what you're getting, even if they don't understand yet."
"But...but..." Kathryn stuttered, then stopped. "O-kay, I get it. You want to be surprised, and you want them to be able to see what you're getting for them."
"That's right. And trust me, I'm sure your mom sort of thought the same thing. Uh, I am right, right?"
"You sure are. It was so exciting, picking out clothes and stuff for you guys while you sat there, seeing everything for yourself." May smiled, then started, and Sandra looked at her with concern. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, just...got kicked again."
"They'll do that from time to time."
"Yeah, Satoshi was curious about it too." May touched the spot where the baby had kicked her, then turned back to the older woman. "Hey, Sandra, is it okay if I show Mary and Kathryn the scans we got? I'm going to show them to Satoshi when he gets home, but I wondered if we could let the girls see them too?"
"I don't see why not." May moved to the small table and placed the scans on the table, and the girls crowded around to look. Kathryn immediately began her usual squealing over how the baby looked, while Mary kept her silence. The rest of their time was spent poring over the scans, and eventually Sandra took Mary and Kathryn home, while May waited for Ash's return so he could see.
November brought the end of the Bell Tower renovation project, and the news was met with mixed levels of enthusiasm. Ash had made himself available for future potential projects, but bemoaned the inactivity that it would bring. May consoled him by reminding him of the significant financial benefit the project had brought, and that they were in good position for when the baby came and their lives changed again.
May continued her fortnightly visits to the doctor, reporting back to Ash as appropriate to stop him wondering. He'd spent quite a bit of time at the apartment with the girls, and therefore endured Kathryn's endless questioning every time. May found this amusing, seeing as she'd gone through the same thing during her own sessions with Sandra. Sandra had told Kathryn to lay off Ash, but Kathryn, true to form, ignored her and forged ahead.
Through everything, May felt her doubts begin to compound as time rolled by. Even if she had done what she could to work on her relationship with Ash, she couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different had she not become pregnant in the first place. The baby was the sticking point, the one thing that had made it so Ash would never voluntarily leave her—not that he would ever leave her anyway, his perseverance and refusal to give up on anyone would see to that. Still, even though she still had intense feelings toward him, she continued to wonder if she could keep it up herself.
Eventually, she made a fateful decision in her mind. She didn't know when she would tell him, but when the right moment arrived, she would. It wouldn't be easy, but she felt she had to do it.
On the evening of the official re-opening of the Bell Tower, May accompanied Ash down to the building site. May stood in the crowd with Sandra and the girls, while Ash and Biff were grouped with the army of Workers who had worked so hard to fix up the ancient tower. Morty joined the mayor and the construction foreman to re-open the tower area to potential tourists, effectively lengthening the Bellchime Trail and connecting the tower with the annex once again.
Cheers rose from the assembled crowd, and the rush to head down the trail was massive. Ash and Biff, along with Sully, ducked around jubilant attendees to reach their families, knowing that they'd seen enough of the trail to last a lifetime.
"So, looks like we're finally done here, eh, Narazaki?" Biff clapped Ash on the back after he shared a quick embrace with May. The older worker looked May over and his jovial grin faded a little. "Narazaki, am I seein' things, or is your girl...?"
"Yes," May answered, cutting Biff off before he could finish. "We're expecting our first child in January."
"Wow," Biff backed down, embarrassed at his outburst. "Uh, well, congratulations, you two. So that's what Sandra's been duckin' out of the house for, huh?"
"Yes, Biff. I offered to help Haruka out during the process, since she's living alone with Satoshi and I thought she could use some maternal advice."
"I really appreciate your wife's help, sir. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, though, it just sort of..."
"Slipped your mind?" Now it was Biff's turn to finish her sentence. "Ah, don't worry, your boyfriend never mentioned it either. Not good for team morale, eh, Sully?" Sully cracked a rare smile, but said nothing.
"Alright, let's all get home, I'm sure Haruka wants to get off her feet for a while, and you two need to get home too." Kathryn's shoulders slumped, but dutifully followed her parents and sister as the group dispersed.
When they got back to the apartment, Ash started finishing the dishes he'd left behind when they went to the re-opening; they'd had an early dinner in anticipation of the event, and Ash had decided to just leave them until they got home. As usual, the task didn't take very long, and he headed for the living room to talk with May.
To his shock, May was sitting upright on the couch, looking like she was ready to burst out crying. A red flag shot up in Ash's mind; this could mean nothing good.
"Uh, May, are you alright?" To his horror, May shook her head and looked at the ground. "May?"
"Ash," she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek, "I have something to tell you, and you're not going to like it."
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waaaaiting is the hardest pa-...oh, jeesh, chapter's over already? Sorry, I was just...yeah. I've got work in the morning, so maybe singing songs that are out of my range is unnecessary...
Anywho, May's got something to tell Ash (again), and something tells me it's not just about working on their relationship anymore. What could it possibly be this time? Is it make or break (gosh, I hope not)? Tune in next week, folks!
Alright, with that unconvincing cliffhanger out of the way, standard operating procedure is in effect. Please read, REVIEW (whaddya say we hit that 100-comment mark, huh?) and tell me what you think. Until next time, namárië!