A/N: Thank you very much for your comments and support! And sorry I'm a day late, but here is a new chapter! I hope you enjoy!

To cake0108: And thank you very much for encouraging me :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day Ash cooks

Ash

Sunday, January 5th

"…advise trainers with ghost type Pokémon to not go out alone after nightfall. Furthermore we would like to ask to report any suspicious activity to the local Officer Jenny…"

The voice-over from the news anchor sounded against a rotating view of the Indigo Plateau, before it cut back to the studio. The news anchor continued speaking, but Ash wasn't listening anymore. He wasn't hearing anything new, after all.

With a sigh, he got up from the couch and walked back to the kitchen, leaving the TV on and keeping the doors open. He heaved another sigh when he glanced at the clock; time to start cooking. Misty was still off somewhere, so the responsibility fell to Ash. As it had most of the time these last weeks-

Ash shook himself out of his thoughts and clapped his hands together. "Alrighty, Pikachu, what are we going to eat today?"

Having followed him from the living room, Pikachu now sat on the corner of the table and made a show of thinking. "Pika, pikachu, chu."

"We're not going to eat spaghetti with ketchup again, Pikachu," Ash said, and couldn't stop his smile when Pikachu fell over in dramatic disappointment.

"Let's see what we got in the fridge, alright? I'm pretty sure we should have enough to make a curry or something…" Ash mused as he started gathering the vegetables. "Alright, looks like it'll be curry."

With practice borne from the last few weeks, Ash and Pikachu split up the tasks of cutting up the vegetables and soon there was a pan filled with delicious smelling curry sizzling on the stove. They continued on with preparing the Pokémon food, though Ash had to keep an eye on Pikachu since he had the tendency to take a few bites while working.

Still, Ash let it pass a few times, even though it would probably result in Pikachu gaining weight. He ought to train more with him, but Ash had been so occupied with keeping the Gym running that he hadn't had much time to spend with his own team.

Although he couldn't blame Misty for being so busy. Ash could only scarcely believe what was happening. Agatha and Phoebe murdered… It was the biggest anti-League movement in years. The criminal teams from his youth had always wanted to take over the world in a more roundabout way, not by directly attacking the League. That was to say, if there truly was a criminal team behind this, and if taking over the world was really their goal…

Ash was out of the loop, and he didn't like it. Misty knew more, but she wasn't telling. It was official League business, and he was just a professional trainer. There was absolutely no reason for him to get involved; he hadn't found anything, he wasn't attacked and he didn't even own ghost Pokémon.

In fact, he should probably be happy that for once, the fate of the world wasn't resting on his shoulders, but Ash felt entirely useless.

"Alright, Pikachu, that's quite enough," Ash called out, suddenly realizing that Pikachu had already devoured a whole meal.

"Aah," he pouted in response, but refrained from eating more.

Ash smiled a bit and then turned his attention back to the food he was preparing. He knew he wasn't useless; he took care of the Gym, he took care of the Pokémon, he took care of the house and their food, and although Misty couldn't talk to him about what was going on, he did his best to support her however he could.

Despite these rational thoughts he was still frustrated. The fact that Misty wasn't insisting on doing everything on her own drove home the point that something was very wrong, and he didn't like sitting on the sidelines.

He shook himself out of his thoughts again and instead grabbed a spoon to take a careful bite of the curry. Hm. If he did say so himself, he was improving at this whole cooking thing. He put the lid back on it and then turned to Pikachu.

"Alright, let's get our buddies something to eat!"

It was quite a chore to bring all the bowls to the Pokémon area, so Ash had developed the system to allow a few Pokémon in the kitchen, give them their own bowls to take back to the Pokémon area, and then call in the next few. In the beginning, he had just let them in the kitchen all at once, which of course turned into a right mess. This new method saved time, and he only needed to bring the food to the few Pokémon unable to come, such as the too big ones or Misty's water-bound Pokémon.

After he had brought the last bowls to the aquarium, he stayed there for a moment, watching the Pokémon eat. Misty – or the Gym – owned quite a few water types, and with some surprise Ash realized that he used them all of them in battle at some point, and knew what their strengths and weaknesses were. It seemed like he was closer to becoming a Gym Leader than he had thought.

That realization brought him mixed feelings, and Ash turned away and walked back to the Pokémon area. Pikachu and his other Pokémon were enjoying their meals, though some of them had already finished theirs. Totodile was excitedly running around, and Ash decided that it was probably best if he took up training with him tonight to make him lose some of that energy. With Lycanroc, he thought, to train the rock type's speed. The Gym cost him too much time, but it was only temporary.

Ash sighed and let the Pokémon be. He might as well eat on his own, it would probably still be some time before Misty got back.

After grabbing a bowl of the curry, he seated himself on the couch and watched the news without paying much attention. There wasn't any more news about the murders, anyway. He hadn't expected it, either. Leaf's speech earlier today had been vague, and Ash suspected that they didn't have many leads to go on. He hoped he was wrong, but this felt like this could be something for the long run.

The sound of the front door opening and closing sounded, and Ash turned to watch the hallway. A moment later Misty appeared, still dressed in thick winter gear.

"Hey," he called in greeting. "Cold outside?"

"It's freezing." Misty took off her gloves and unwrapped the scarf. Then she glared at the TV screen. "Can you please turn that off?"

"Already seen too much?"

Misty didn't answer, but simply took off her coat and unceremoniously dropped it with the rest of her winter wear on the couch. Then she plopped down on the couch as well, accompanied by an enormous sigh.

"I take that as a yes," Ash remarked. Misty gave him a tired glare.

"Classified League business, Ash." The annoyed What can't you understand about that wasn't said but Ash could hear it anyway. "You know I can't tell you anything." So don't ask questions.

Ash felt his own anger rise, but bit it back down. Misty was stressed. And probably hungry, too.

"There's curry in the kitchen," he said as peace offering.

Misty deflated and sunk further in the couch. "Sorry," she mumbled, eyes far away. "I just… I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"Yeah, I know…" Ash felt his anger melt away and he grabbed her hand to give it a light squeeze. She smiled gratefully. "I just don't like seeing you this way... And I can't do anything to help you!"

Misty had started to lean in, but now pulled back. Although still tired-looking, her eyes shone with warmth and Ash felt a rush of happiness.

"I know," she said. "And you're already doing much more than you know."

Thinking back on today, with the Gym battles and feeding the Pokémon and cooking, Ash thought he had a pretty good idea of how much he was doing. He couldn't stop himself from skeptically asking, "Really?"

A moment later he wanted to hit himself for ruining the moment, but Misty seemed to take it in stride and smiled.

"Well, you're helping enough, Ash, really," Misty said, her voice lighter now.

Ash grinned and tried to salvage the situation. "Good. Wouldn't want other people to think I'm not supporting my wife."

It was said teasingly and he leaned in closer. Misty smiled playfully and responded to his kiss, but pulled away much too soon for Ash's liking. She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder and Ash felt the mood drop again.

"It'll be alright," Ash said, kissing her forehead. "Just stay positive and remember the good things, too. I'll get you the curry, for example."

Before he had finished speaking, Misty looked up again and he was surprised by her smile. He had the feeling the curry had little to do with it.

"You're right," she said. "I've got something to tell you, by the way."

Ash had a flashback to the soaps his mother liked to watch, in which this was the way the women told their husbands/boyfriends/lovers that they were pregnant. Then he remembered that Misty was already pregnant and couldn't really get any more pregnant-

"Not twins, right?"

Misty seemed confused before laughing. "No, no, heh, imagine that. Now that would be a surprise… No, no, I was talking about something else."

Ash grinned and made a show of wiping his brow in relief. "Phew. So what's it, then?"

"It is actually about the pregnancy... I've made another appointment at the doctor's with a sonography. We'll get to see our baby again!" Misty beamed at him.

A hesitant smile made its way up his face. "Wow, I, uh..." Ash didn't know what to say. He'd thought he had gotten used to the idea of the pregnancy, but apparently it could still throw him for a loop. "That's cool."

That was apparently the right response, because Misty's smile widened. Ash responded in kind. "So, uh, when is the appointment?"

"This Thursday. I forgot to tell you earlier, but your planning isn't as full as mine, anyway, so it works, right?" Misty seemed slightly apologetic for not asking him beforehand, and Ash swallowed away a feeling of irritation and nodded. It was true, after all, but still…

"Sure, that's fine," he said.

Misty beamed and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "And that curry sounds great, by the way."

"Of course."

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I'm not too sure about this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it! Poor Ash is feeling a little left out… We'll see how long he'll be able to stay out of this business :P Please review!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Harry Potter: we were here by queen-sheep. FFN. A heartbreaking one-shot which I can't say too much about or else I'll spoil it. Not for Lucius Malfoy fans, I suppose. Give it a look!

If you have a story you want me to recommend, let me know!