Meowth was very confused.

He assumed that Jessie and James had essentially quit Team Rocket, and taken part-time jobs because Jessie had gotten sick. But Jessie seemed to be almost radiant.

Meowth didn't mind quitting Team Rocket, he had friends and that meant more to him than being the boss's Top Cat, but he was still a little bit uneasy about not really knowing what was going on. They seemed to think they were doing a good job at hiding their relationship, though. Humans could be really silly sometimes.

"What's wrong, Meowth? You seem a little blue." said James, putting on his Team Rocket uniform. They were going to go to the clinic in HQ today. They were still in the database, so they had no problem going to the HQ whenever they needed anything.

"Don't worry. You'll probably feel a lot better after we go to the clinic today." That didn't help Meowth at all. What were they going to do at the clinic? If they were going to give him a bath...

Jessie put on her uniform and looked a little bit embarrassed. Her usually convex tummy was going slightly concave. To the untrained eye, it looked like perhaps she had had one too many pancakes at breakfast. But when James saw her gingerly cross her arms over her stomach, he couldn't help but smile.

"Are you ready?"

Jessie turned her head away. "Let's just go already."

Maria greeted them warmly and welcomed them into her office, shutting the door. Meowth came along, perched on James's head. Maria opened another door in her office and led them into a medical examination room. She motioned to a partition.

"Jessie, I want you to change into this hospital gown, and lay down on this bed."

Meowth sat on James's lap. James felt like a robot, full of tension.

When Jessie was done changing, she laid down on the bed as instructed. Maria put up a privacy curtain over Jessie's lower half and rolled out a machine with a TV screen on it. Meowth noticed that James's heartrate was steadily increasing.

"Meowth...I'd like to apologize in advance for keeping all of this a secret from you..." said James in a quiet voice. "But I hope you'll understand why we did it."

The screen went on, and Maria was coating a plastic device with some kind of gel like substance. She then went behind the curtain and some water-like sounds started to emit from the machine. Something came up on the screen. It was blurry, and in black and white. Maria looked at the screen, and looked visibly surprised. She readjusted the device, and looked back, with a concerned look on her face.

Jessie saw her expression. "Is there something wrong, Maria?"

James shook his head. "Please don't let there be something wrong."

Meowth was still not really following the conversation.

Maria's expression changed into a big, beaming smile. "It's twins."

"What?" said James, in shock.

"Twins?" said Jessie. James turned to her. "Prepare for trouble."

"And make it...double..."

And then Meowth piped up. "Youse are having BABIES? Little mini-humans?"

James put a finger to his mouth. "Shh! We do NOT want the whole HQ to know!"

Meowth sat back, mystified. "So...humans do have little humans. Youse don't lay eggs."

"Oh dear, Jess, we haven't given him the talk"

Jessie was gritting her teeth "No one gave me the talk either, and that's probably why I'm in this situation." Maria took out the device and Jessie relaxed. "Put that on the list of things to teach these ones."

James laughed. He couldn't help himself. He was not only going to be a father, but a father of two! Jessie glared at him when she finished changing. "Glad you're happy. I certainly will not be for the next 8 months!"

"You will too." replied James with a cheeky grin.

"Will not! This is all your fault!"

"I made trouble, you made it double." James said in a singsong.

As they bickered on, Maria quietly handed Meowth a few pamphlets. Meowth looked at them, wide-eyed. "Times like dese I'm glad I'm a pokemon..."

James was working part-time in Christopher's shop, and when he wasn't there he was working at a flower shop. Jessie was a waitress. They lived in a weekly-rental place in a small town a few hours from the HQ. James seemed to be on cloud 9, constantly humming and in good spirits. Jessie, despite her worries about losing her figure, had her "pregnant woman glow". But in the shadows of that, James had another issue looming over his shoulders.

Money.

Twins cost twice as much as one child to raise. Jessie would have to quit her job for at least a short while, and James was not confident that he would be able to provide for all 4 of them on such a meager paycheck.

A few weeks of rent, and a month of minimum wage made James realize.

Sometimes, drastic times call for drastic measures.

Saturday, after payday, James was packing up all of his possessions into a suitcase. Jessie came in. "What are you doing, James?"

"Packing. Jessie, Meowth, you should pack too. We're going."

"Going...where?" said Jessie in her James-have-you-gone-insane tone.

James sighed. "To my parent's house."