Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter nine of this fanfic. This chapter is a bit longer than what I usually write but I hope you guys enjoy. Also thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!
Chapter 9: A New Family Member
The sound of loud crying awoke the young brunette girl who was sleeping in the same room her mother was. The reason for her sleeping in their parents room instead of her own was because she was awoken by a nightmare just an hour prior.
She had been getting into dreamland just fine, well until the baby sleeping on the crib decided to wake up the entire town for what was perhaps the twentieth time that night.
Caroline silently picked herself up from the bed in an effort to not wake May up, but she knew that she was probably already awake. She walked over the crib where she gently picked up the baby boy with dark hair, cradling him in her arms. She began calming the baby boy down by singing a melody that she had sung all the time when May was a baby. It was a soothing melody that always seemed to calm the baby down as he quickly stopped crying, going back into peaceful sleep for hopefully the next couple of hours. She gently placed him back down on the crib then silently walked back to the large bed where her daughter was laying and layed back down. She allowed the comfort and warmth of the bed to bring her into dreamland.
May, who had been awake for the past couple minutes, found relief in the peace and quiet again. She slowly closed her eyes allowing sleep to take its embrace as she recalled the events of that fateful day.
"Mommy, so will the baby be a boy or a girl?" The young girl asked again as she was hanging pink and blue balloons on the chairs of the dinner table. There was a wide array of pink and blue decorations on the table which included: napkins, plates, balloons, party poppers, cups, and even the snacks were in pink and blue colors. Behind her hung a large banner that said "Boy or Girl."
"May I've told you already, it's a surprise, so stop asking," Caroline said entering the room carrying more decorations. Her baby belly had grown quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. If May didn't know better, she would think that the baby was ready to come out.
Although she failed to get much information out of Brendan regarding the makings of a baby, she at least had some basic concept of where babies come from. She know knew for a fact that the pelipper did not deliver babies.
"Mom, I just wanna know if i'll have a little sister or brother," silently hoping for a little sister. She wouldn't mind the idea of a little brother, but to her it seemed like she spent way too much time with a particular brown haired boy to the point where she wanted to have some girl time with someone else that didn't include her mom.
"You'll know when the baby comes May, just be patient ok," she responded, hanging more decorations in the living room.
Norman would have normally been ecstatic at the thought of throwing his wife a baby shower, but due to his line of work he wouldn't be able to attend it.
The sound of the doorbell drew May's attention away from hanging decorations.
"Can you get the door May?" her mother asked going back to the kitchen.
Mrs. Birch had stopped by earlier to give Caroline a hand, but she had left a short while ago to get her gifts for the baby along with her family.
May nodded, walking towards the door where she was greeted by three very familiar faces. Professor Birch stood the right carrying a huge box of diapers. Mrs. Birch stood to the left carrying a white basket full of soaps, shampoos, and towels for the baby. Brendan stood between them carrying a white gift bag with who knows what inside.
"Hello May good to see you again," Mrs. Birch waved at the girl enthusiastically. Brendan waved his own enthusiastic greeting while the professor seemed to be struggling in carrying the enormous diaper box.
Mrs. Birch had forced the two to take the day off saying that they could lighten up after all the fieldwork they had been doing recently.
There was someone that was missing however and it was too late when she finally noticed that a small mudfish pokemon was standing in front of the family.
May knew it was coming, but she was always surprised when it happened. It had already been two years since the small pokemon hatched, yet he still always sprayed her in the face every time they met. Even Professor Birch had tried to stop the pokemon from doing that after Brendan "tried" himself, but the small pokemon refused to let that habit go. It was as if his life depended on it.
The sound of snickering coming from a certain brown haired boy, caused the girl to send him a glare, which only caused him to snicker even louder. At this point, it was like tradition that May would get sprayed in the face, so everyone laughed, except May of course. She was always miserable when her hair got messed up from the water attack, but was glad that she wasn't allowed to wear makeup yet as that would cause her face to look like a purugly. Especially with the expression she was currently wearing.
"Brendan I really hope Skipper stops doing that when he evolves," she complained, already grabbing a towel to dry herself.
"I don't think he will May."
May ushered her neighbors inside, before another pair of guests arrived. This time it was the old Owens couple carrying a large cake box inside. They had also brought their poochyena with them.
Caroline had invited a good amount of people over, but she wasn't sure which would show up or not.
"Brendan, May make sure you two don't eat the entire cake," Mrs. Owens teased.
This caused both children to say in unison, "Of course we won't." Although they had their fingers crossed behind their backs. They just couldn't help themselves when the Owens made a cake. Their cakes tasted like a slice of heaven had fallen into their mouths.
"Welcome everyone," Caroline said as she finished hanging the last of the decorations. Lisa was the first to approach Caroline grabbing her in a hug and handing her the basket full of soaps. Birch followed after, laying the large box of diapers on the ground then giving Caroline a hug. Brendan followed soon after, and like his mother handed Caroline the white gift bag, giving her a hug. The Owens were the next to follow placing the large cake box on the dinner table with each then giving her a hug, congratulating her on the baby.
A couple of more guests arrived later on. Mainly people that run the marketplace along with a couple of neighbors, each bringing with them their own gifts for Caroline and the baby.
Of course May and Brendan had already eaten half of the cake they promised not to eat a lot of once the sun went down, which earned them both playful scoldings from their mothers.
Birch was content in watching the television. He was still slightly sulky that he didn't get to do any fieldwork today.
For the next couple of hours, the guests played a series a game such as the "Dirty Diaper", which was a game similar to hot potato, but instead used a diaper. A rather smelly diaper to be exact. Who knows what was inside of that diaper.
In the end Lisa and Caroline ended up having a dance off where the guests would pick who had the better moves. It was great to see that even though Caroline had gained a significant amount of weight, she still danced like a pro. Lisa on the other hand wasn't throwing in the towel as she showed everyone her moves earning her loud applauses, especially from her husband.
Brendan and May had opted to play their own kiddy games. One of which was pokemon trivia which Brendan unsurprisingly won every time. They then decided to play a couple of board games such as Chutes and Ladders as well as Candy Land, where both children had the same amount of wins.
Now that they thought about it, Brendan and May were the only two children in town at around their age. All the other kids in town were either way too young or way too old which caused the two to mainly socialize with each other and not the other kids. Littleroot Town did have a good number of old couples as well as having a good number of young couples that had decided to settle down in the countryside.
"Thanks everyone for your support," Caroline said waving at the guests who were leaving to return to their homes.
"Good luck Caroline," they waved back. She then closed to the door to find two children who were still playing board games, a mudfish watching closely by, a mother such as herself beginning the clean the mess the party had left behind, and a sleeping father watching television.
"That was quite some party huh Caroline," Lisa said picking up the trash off the table.
"Definitely Lisa, I still got more applause than you in our dance contest," she responded back with.
"Are you deaf Caroline? They were clearly clapping for me."
"Nah Lisa I think the sugar got to your head, those were definitely for me."
The two women kept poking fun at each as they cleaned. Brendan had just won his sixth game of Candy Land while May was at her fourth. They were about to go for another round before they heard, "Brendan, May why don't you guys help us out cleaning this up. We will be done much faster if we work together," Lisa said, stacking a couple of white trash bags.
The two children let out unenthusiastic grunts until Caroline pulled out the remaining of the cake saying, "If you two help, you can have the rest of cake."
At this the two children stood up, grabbed garbage bags and began to frantically fill up bags. Their mouths were watering as they thought of eating more of the heavenly cake.
"Nicely done Caroline," Lisa winked at her neighbor.
Caroline winked back, "Don't you just think they are made for each other?"
"Definitely, we should start planning the wedding," Lisa joked causing the two women to begin laughing. The two children were too busy cleaning up that they didn't seem to notice their mother's discussion.
They had picked up all the garbage leaving the room squeaky clean in record time. Even Skipper had helped out!
He seemed to also love the taste of the cake. The three stacked their garbage bags placing them in the trash can. Caroline shortly handed them large slices of cake, which the two kids proceeded to devour theirs while Skipper ate his slice at a normal pace.
Professor Birch was now snoring as he was sitting on the recliner. He would of slept there for the rest of night if it wasn't for the events that occured in the following hours.
It all began when Caroline gasped. She felt some liquid running down her leg. Having already had a baby, she was familiar with the sensation. She then felt contractions in her lower pelvic region. She leaned against the nearby counter to catch her breath. Lisa who was also in the kitchen noticed this.
She asked, "Caroline is everything alright?"
Caroline was trying to catch her breath, she responded with, "Lisa, I think little Max is ready to come out."
Lisa's eyes widened. She ran back to the living room to wake up her husband. She shook him frantically until his eyes opened. He looked at her with a confused look, but quickly jumped to his feet and ran out the house when Lisa told him to quickly get the car ready to drive Caroline to the Oldale Town Hospital. She also told the two children to get ready to visit Oldale Town.
The two children did as they were told, not questioning what was going on.
Lisa ran back to the kitchen where Caroline was breathing a bit more heavily. She helped her put her shoes on, then helped her walk out of the room and towards the house's front door.
Luckily the two children were already ready to leave when the two mothers entered the room. Brendan had also returned Skipper to his pokeball.
They rushed towards the front door looking on with worried faces. The reassuring smile from Caroline sent a slight pang relief down their spines as they were exiting the home.
Luckily, Professor Birch had already parked the jeep in front of the Maple residence. He got out of the car and helped Lisa to carefully carry Caroline into the backseat of the jeep. Brendan and May followed soon after sitting in the back as well. Once everyone was settled in, Professor Birch began driving towards Oldale Town at full speed. He had promised he would drive more calmly, but to him that still meant driving at a hundred miles an hour in the middle night on a dirt road.
"What's going on mommy is everything alright?" May asked, concern in her voice.
"Everything is alright May, don't worry," Caroline responded.
May just couldn't help but worry, she knew something was going on but she didn't know what.
A familiar feeling on her shoulder told her that Brendan had set his hand on it. "She's alright May, she's just having a baby. I think," he calmly said.
May's eyes widened at the sudden news. Her mom had told her that the baby wouldn't be coming for another couple of weeks, so she was taken by surprise when the baby decided to come now. She was worried, but also excited in seeing her new baby brother or sister. Lisa who was helping Caroline with her breathing pulled out her cellphone to dial Norman's number.
He picked up after two rings.
"Lisa what's up?" he asked. It was late at night, so his voice sounded like he had just gotten out of bed.
"Norman we are taking Caroline to Oldale Town. The baby is coming," she answered back. She thought she heard him falling off his bed and shuffling on his feet.
After a moment he responded with, "Thanks Lisa. I'm on my way to Oldale. Care good care of Caroline for me."
"We will. See you there Norman."
She hung up soon after. She then focused her full attention back on Caroline. She was breathing a bit more heavily now. Brendan and May looked from the side as Caroline had her hand clasped over Lisa's.
They arrived at Oldale town at record time. Almost ten minutes.
The town was pretty empty, with only a couple of street lamps lighting up the roads. There weren't any people out, but the hospital shone over the rest of the town.
Professor Birch parked the jeep in front of the hospital. He quickly got out, opening the door for both Lisa and Caroline. The two children had exited through the other door.
Professor Birch and Lisa quickly helped Caroline into the hospital, where she was quickly guided into a room where she would be taken care of. The two children followed behind their parents and a couple nurses as the mother was being lead to her room. Professor Birch stopped the two telling them that it would be best if they waited outside. After all, seeing the process of childbirth was probably one that they would not like to see even if one of them was already familiar with it after sneaking certain books out of the professor's office.
Both children nodded, although May did a bit reluctantly. She really wanted to know if her mom would really be ok. She knew that she didn't have to worry with all the doctors and nurses around, but she just couldn't help it. This was a first for her.
To make matters worse, sleep was beginning to overtake her. Brendan led her to a set of chairs outside of the room where they both sat.
"Don't worry May, Mrs. Maple will be alright so no need to worry," offering her a smile.
She looked up him then responded with, "I know," before sleep took its toll on the young girl. She leaned against the boy's shoulder as he looked on rather embarrassedly.
Even though he wanted to stay awake for much longer, he could also feel sleep taking its toll on him. It was around eleven at night so it was way past his normal bedtime. He let his eyes slowly close as his head began to lean against his neighbor's.
Inside the room, Caroline's contractions had only intensified. Lisa looked on as the doctor and nurses were helping Caroline with the process. Professor Birch was outside looking after the sleeping children. Norman had arrived around midnight as he came running in his pajamas into the hospital like a madman. He quickly greeted Birch before entering the room where he saw his wife sprawled on the bed during labor. She looked up at him, offered him a bright smile before he walked over to her in an effort to comfort her.
The next couple of hours included the increase of contractions, along with loud grunts and ragged breathing from Caroline. She spent about two hours pushing, as soon as the doctor informed her that it would be the best time to begin. Soon after, the sounds of crying and relieved gasps filled the room.
Max had been born in the early hours of the morning.
May's eyes slowly opened, the brightness of the white colored hospital walls caused her to close her eyes as if lava had hit them. She opened them again, albeit a bit more slowly this time. She let her eyes adjust for a moment before beginning to glance around. The first thing she noticed was that her head was still leaning against Brendan's shoulder while his head was resting on hers. Normally she would freak out at such close contact, but she felt oddly comfortable around him.
Brendan's own eyes opened and just like May's. He quickly shut them tight from the intense lighting. After a moment he opened them, slowly this time as to not get blinded. He yawned for a moment noticing that his head was resting on May's. Just like her he would of normally found this close contact awkward, but he felt comfortable being so close to her. He slowly removed his head from hers stretching out his neck then his legs and arms. He looked at May who also removed her head from his shoulder, taking some time to stretch out as well. They both heard loud snoring coming from their side as their heads turned around to see the sight of tall brown headed bearded man sleeping peacefully on one of the chairs. They both let out a small chuckle noticing how funny the professor's face looked.
"Good morning May," Brendan started, standing up to stretch his arms and legs again before sitting back down again.
"Morning Brendan," standing up as well to get the sleep out her body.
Lisa walked out the room soon after. She looked like she had stayed up all night and she probably did as there were bags clearly visible under her eyes. She let out a loud, long yawn stretching as well. She spotted the two children sitting next to each other giving them both a wave and a "good morning."
"Morning mom," Brendan was the first to respond with May soon responding with, "morning ."
Lisa looked at her husband who was still sleeping to the side letting out a quiet chuckle as she saw his sleeping face.
"So is my mom alright?" May asked getting back to her feet.
"Oh Caroline is alright. The baby is alright too, so there's nothing to worry about. Your father is also inside."
"Oh that's great!" she exclaimed jumping up in joy. "Can I see them?" she asked.
"It's probably best if we let them rest for a while, it's been a long night. Why don't we go get breakfast?"
"Oh sure," she answered back, slightly saddened that she couldn't see parents and her new sibling.
"By the way Mrs. Birch, was the baby a boy or a girl?"
She looked back with a big smile on her face, "you'll have to wait to see the baby. Caroline made me promise not to tell."
"Come on May," an enthusiastic Brendan said already grabbing her by the hand to go to the cafeteria. She nodded, following after him as Lisa led the way.
The hospital patrons all looked at the children as if they were insane. They were easily devouring all the food placed in front of them. This time May had challenged Brendan again to a eating contest confident that she would win for sure this time. Brendan being Brendan took her challenge again, confident that he would not lose, which was right as he quickly pulled ahead of May's eating. His own stack of empty plates grew to almost twice the size of May's.
"Ha looks like a win again May," .A wide victorious smirk on his face.
"I'll get you for real next time, you'll see," she fired back angrily, mad that she had failed to out eat him again.
"That's what you said last time. If you ask me you'll never be able to beat me in eating." His smirk was growing wider.
This caused May to glare at him which in turn caused the boy to glare back. After a moment of glaring daggers at each other, they began laughing uncontrollably. Lisa looked on with laughter as well as the two children interacted with each other. Professor Birch was approaching the table, sitting down next to his wife, giving her a good morning kiss. This of course caused a "eww" to be heard from both children.
Professor Birch merely smiled back at the two, not bothered at all by the comment they made. He got back up to get a plate of food then sat back down, eating at a pace that would put even Brendan to shame. Now May knew where her neighbor had gotten his eating habits from.
Brendan had witnessed his father eating like that before, although he only ate like that when he was extremely hungry. Sometimes they made a competition out of it with both of them having an equal amount of wins and losses.
Norman was then spotted heading towards their table where sat down soon after the professor had ravenously eaten. The gym leader was still wearing his red pajama pants and long sleeved shirt.
"Daddy why are wearing you pjs?" May asked eyeing her father as if he was crazy.
"Well baby girl, I came here at the middle of the night in a hurry, so I didn't have time to change," taking a large bite of his waffles.
"You look funny in them though," she added, a smile creeping on her face.
Norman let out a small laugh before continuing to eat his waffles. He looked back at his daughter and friends saying, "I'm closing the gym for the rest of the month, I want to spend time with my family."
"That's great Norman, Caroline could really use the support of her husband in times like these," Lisa responded. Birch followed soon after giving his own comment. He was clearly glad he had decided to close the gym as he gave the black haired man a pat on the back.
"So daddy when can we see mom and the baby?" May asked again eyeing her father.
"Let's give your mother and the baby a little bit longer to rest, they really need it."
She gave him a bright smile and a nod. Norman stood up, walked over to her, then messed her hair up before returning to eating his breakfast. This action reminded Brendan that he still hadn't fed Skipper yet. He grabbed at his waist where his lone pokeball lay and let him out. The small pokemon materialized on the table, stretching out his legs. He let out an enthusiastic greeting before, as always, setting his eyes on May and spraying her in the face with water gun. If she wasn't fully awake before, she was now.
Brendan as usual was laughing his butt off while everyone else looked on trying to hide the smiles on their faces. May looked like she was about to explode.
The next couple of hours passed with the two families spending time together. They still hadn't visited Caroline as she was still sleeping, but they would soon. May changed out of last night's clothes as Brendan did the same. The parents then changed out of theirs. Norman was now looking more professional than before as he was wearing his usual attire. They stood outside Caroline's door before opening it revealing the small room.
The room was pretty small only containing a single bed, a counter with a sink to the left, a bedside table, a couple chairs placed along the bed and a television set in front of the bed. The windows were slightly open, letting in some the cool winter air and fluttering white curtains. There lay Caroline wearing a light green hospital gown holding a baby in her arms against her chest. She looked up to be greeted with bright smiles. Norman and May were the first to approach. May nearly threw herself on top of her mother.
"Good morning May, did you miss me?" the mother jokingly asked.
"Yes mommy I missed you, we all did," embracing her mom in a soft hug. She then looked down at the baby in her arms. She noticed that he or she was asleep and was letting out soft small breaths. She also noticed a couple of strands of black hair sticking out of the hat.
"Mommy is the baby a boy or a girl?"
"May the baby is a boy, his name is Max, make sure you take good care of him."
Norman went to step behind May. "How are you feeling honey?" he asked.
"Well for the most part, just some slight pain and discomfort, but I'm sure it'll pass."
Norman nodded embracing his wife in a soft hug. He gently took Max out of her hands, cradling him gently in his arms. May sat down on the table along with Norman. "Want to carry him May?" he asked the young girl.
She nodded placing her arms carefully out so she could hold him. She noticed that he weighed a bit more than she thought he would, but she loved the feeling of holding her new brother.
Brendan had walked up to him observing the baby as well. Skipper was laying on his head. "Congratulations May," he said giving her a bright smile. Skipper let out his own form of congratulations. He jumped from Brendan's head towards Max. He looked at him closely for a second before he tapped his paw softly on his head and let out soft "Mudkip."
"Geez, why does he only seem to hate me?" May asked, shocked that the water type already seemed to be getting along great with her brother despite the fact they had met just mere moments ago.
"It might be a mystery the world may never know," Brendan said, slightly snickering at May's shocked face.
Professor Birch and Lisa came closer, each taking turns in carrying Max. Caroline thanked them for taking care of her while Norman was away and they said that it was something she and her husband would of done too if Lisa was in the same situation. After about an hour, Max was again laying on Caroline's arms. Lisa took out her camera asking everyone to get together for a picture. She placed the camera on the tv stand as everyone gathered together.
May sat to the left of her mother while Norman stood by her right. Brendan was standing next to May with Skipper laying on his head. Professor Birch was also standing next to Norman, wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulders. Lisa pressed the button which would allow her some time to get into the picture before it was taken. She rushed back to stand next to her husband. Everyone had wide smiles on their faces as the camera took the picture.
An: So finally Max was introduced. I originally forgot to put him when I was writing out my first drafts for this story,but I found this to be a good spot to introduce him even if he will be quite a bit younger than he is in the anime. This will probably also be the longest chapter that I write for this fic unless there's something down the road that requires me write more.
Anyways, Brendan's next pokemon will be introduced soon. Can anyone can a guess on who it will be? Here's a hint: it's a pokemon that was quite significant between Ruby and Sapphire from the Adventures Manga when they were younger, although in my version the circumstances will be substantially different than what they were in the manga.
I really hope you guys enjoyed and I hope to see you all in the next update!