A/N: Thank you for continuing to support this story! Sorry the chapter is again a bit late, apparently Sundays are getting harder for me to update. But don't worry, if it's not on Sunday, then it'll be on Monday ;) Also, I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo again, so that means I'll be working extra hard to create a backlog on this story, so that maybe, sometime in the far future, the updates can become faster. Anyway, I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to leave a review, thank you very much!

To Guest (chapter 32): Ouch, yeah, it was a difficult chapter to write, too. Thank you for taking the time to review!

To Guest (chapter 42): Great to hear, thank you very much!

To Guest (chapter 62): Thank you very much for reading and reviewing! And look, here's a new chapter ;)

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

Days

The day Iris is watching

Iris

Tuesday, January 7th

Iris chewed on the end of a pencil as she stared at the crossword puzzle. It was the one from today's paper, and Shauntal had assured her it was no problem if she did it, because she usually found the ones from the paper too easy anyway.

It was a discouraging thought considering the still mostly empty puzzle in front of her. So instead of trying to figure out an answer to 'type of staircase' her thoughts drifted to more important questions.

Who or what was attacking owners of ghost Pokémon? It was the only similarity between the victims; age, gender, region of origin, rank or position, it all didn't match up. Since the matter was brought under Unova's attention, deaths of the recent months had been investigated, and it had revealed an alarming amount of suspicious cases, most relating to ghost Pokémon ownership as well.

Besides that, the only matching things were that a) there were no signs of either a natural death or an unnatural death on the body, and b) all the deaths had occurred when the victim had been alone.

And so that was the reason that Iris sat on an uncomfortable chair, attempting to do a crossword puzzle, while Shauntal was happily scribbling away in a notebook. Her watch on Shauntal had started at ten and would end at four, which was coming closer and closer, luckily.

Although it really hadn't been that bad. Shauntal had been mostly training with her Pokémon this afternoon, and it had been very interesting to watch. While Iris was a friend of all Pokémon, ghost types still gave her the chills. Not as bad as ice types, but creepy in a different kind of way.

But they had finished training about half an hour ago, and now Shauntal was working on a book while Iris watched and waited. It was undoubtedly worse for Shauntal, who was under constant surveillance on Alder's orders, but the woman seemed to be taking it in stride.

About ten more minutes. Despite her mental complaining, she also wished it wouldn't end, because that meant facing what would come after. Nervousness wriggled in her gut and Iris shifted in her chair. She tried to focus on the puzzle again, but to no avail.

"Are you okay?" Shauntal spoke suddenly. "You seem distracted."

Iris started and looked at the purple-haired woman. However, Shauntal wasn't looking at her, instead still focused on her notebook, and Iris's attempt at a smile fell flat. Shauntal was nice, but if only she didn't do creepy things like this.

"I'm fine," she responded automatically.

Shauntal now looked at her, her brown eyes big behind her round glasses. "You don't want to tell me. That's fine. I hope things will turn out well for you."

Iris opened her mouth, closed it again, and then said, "Thank you…"

It almost seemed like a question, but Shauntal smiled sweetly at her, before turning her attention back to her notebook.

Yup. Definitely creepy. But at least she wasn't prodding for more information, it was none of her business anyway.

"What are you writing?" Iris asked, trying to make normal conversation.

"Oh, it's a new book," Shauntal said. "It's about a pair of Gym Leaders whose love is complicated by a pregnancy and their separate responsibilities."

Iris didn't know how to respond to that so she only stared. So much for normal conversation. How the hell did she-

"How did you know?"

Shauntal looked up again, seeming completely oblivious to Iris's inner turmoil. "Know what? That you were distracted?"

Again, Iris faltered. Did she know? Was it a coincidence? A lucky guess? Well, she wasn't going to confirm it for her.

"Yesss, that I was distracted," she answered slowly.

"I'm a writer. I observe," Shauntal said.

"Right," Iris said, though it didn't feel right at all. She couldn't wait for this to be over. "Well, I'm just a bit nervous for my doctor's visit, that's all."

As soon as she said it, she wanted to put the words back into her mouth. No one knew about the pregnancy, and whether Shauntal suspected or not, there was no need for her to make it more likely.

It would be her second check-up, again with ultrasound. The morning sickness was bothering her less and she was generally feeling better, so she wasn't too worried about her own or the baby's health.

But Cilan was coming, too.

"All will be well," Shauntal said with a gentle smile, and Iris had no clue if she said that to be comforting or because she knew it would be. She didn't know what she preferred.

A loud knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

"It's open!" Shauntal called.

The sound of the door opening and closing was heard, followed by heavy footsteps. Clay surveyed the room for a moment from the doorway before entering.

"'Afternoon," the broad man greeted them, taking off his ever present cowboy hat. He then pointed a finger at Shauntal, his eyebrows furrowed together in a frown. "You, you should not leave the door unlocked with everything going on."

"Good afternoon, Clay." Shauntal smiled brightly at him, seemingly ignoring his rebuke.

Iris muttered a greeting as well and quickly got up from her chair. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or annoyed at Clay's usual punctuality. The conversation had been weird enough, but if Shauntal knew things…

"No problems, Iris?" Clay asked.

"Nothing suspicious," Iris said. She stretched her arms until the joints popped and then said, "Alright, I'll be off then."

"Thank you, Iris," Shauntal said. "I'll see you next time."

Iris nodded and wished them a good day, and then quickly left Shauntal's house. As soon as she was outside, reality hit her in the face again with a blast of cold air. Now it would be time for the doctor's visit, and to see Cilan again…

Iris wrapped her scarf tight around her face, and glanced up at the clear blue sky. At least it wasn't snowing. Flying in the snow was horrible.

Grateful for the small mercy, she released her Dragonite and mounted the Pokémon. They took off into the air, and Iris tried to concentrate on the cold biting the exposed skin around her eyes and not on the Wurmple wriggling in her gut.

Cilan. She was going to see Cilan again.

Of course it was progress from the complete silence of the past week, but Iris still almost felt like throwing up. She didn't know what to say and she didn't know what he would say, and how was she ever going to look him in the eye?

Feeling panic rising, Iris forced herself to sit up straight and take a deep breath of ice cold air. It stung, but her thoughts became clearer.

The phone call had gone well. Yes, it had been impersonal and short, but there had been no accusations and he had agreed to come. Despite May's earlier advice that she should let Cilan come to her, May had agreed that a doctor's visit was something he should be notified of.

Trying to steer her thoughts away of the impending confrontation, Iris recalled her phone conversation with May yesterday. Her friend had arrived at her parents' in Hoenn and had immediately gone off to challenge the new Petalburg Gym Leader, her younger brother Max.

And she had lost, but Iris was happy to see that that had only increased May's determination. Iris was sure that May would find a way to get that Gym Badge for the Wayland Tournament.

A new adventure… Iris held on closer to Dragonite. But no, Coordinating was nothing for her, and she just had her very own Gym. That was a new adventure, too.

Opelucid City came into view all too quickly and Iris steered Dragonite towards the red roof of the Pokémon Center. It was their chosen meeting point for today, being easy to find from the air and because it was a generally accepted place for flying Pokémon to land in a city.

The cold wind lessened once she was on the ground and Iris loosened her scarf a bit. She thanked Dragonite, who gave her a snort, probably meant as encouraging nod, and then recalled him.

She spotted Cilan's green hair easily enough, and while she was sure he must have seen her coming, he wasn't looking in her direction now.

Iris breathed in deeply and then approached him. He turned before she had to call for his attention. He looked silently at her for some moments, and then tentatively smiled a bit.

It was as if a weight dropped off her shoulders.

"Hey," she said, responding to his smile in kind, carefully and hesitantly. "It's… good to see you again."

And it was, it was so very good to see him again, but Cilan's smile faltered a bit and Iris could feel her own smile breaking.

"I'm grateful that you asked me to come," he said. It was no 'Good to see you, too' but it was better than nothing. "Shall we go?"

"Right," Iris said with a nod. They started off in the direction of the hospital, a sizeable gap between them. The previous time they had gone to the hospital, they had held hands and Iris had been giddy with excitement about Cilan's proposal.

And now this was the best she could have hoped for, after all that had happened.

She snuck a glance at him as they walked, but he seemed to look the same as usual. Although, maybe he was a bit paler.

They neared the hospital and Iris took a deep breath. She never liked hospitals and doctor visits, and avoided them as much as possible. She much preferred the medicinal herbs nature provided, but she knew that with this she would need all the help she could get.

She had no intention of leaving her child to grow up motherless, like she had, and like her mother before her had.

"How are you feeling?" Cilan asked. At him initiating conversation, Iris felt some more tension flow out of her.

She tried for a nonchalant smile. "Nervous. But otherwise I'm fine." When he didn't respond right away, she continued, "The morning sickness is a whole lot less and I'm sleeping a bit better. But I haven't felt, uh, any movements or anything yet, from the baby."

"Well, that's still a bit early, too. Usually it's around the eighteen weeks, I've read," Cilan said. She had known that (mostly), but it was nice to have a conversation with him again. "It's good to hear you're feeling better."

Iris smiled at him, unsure how else to respond. His own smile was forced and small, but it was a smile nonetheless.

As always, the hospital was buzzing with activity, and Iris felt her nervousness grow with every step. What if something was wrong? Or what if they decided she wasn't fit to be a mother- No, wait, they didn't do that.

"Iris?"

Iris blinked back to reality. They stood in front of a desk, and she realized both Cilan and the receptionist were waiting for her to say something.

"Oh, uh, we have an appointment with doctor Nomoto," Iris said.

"Alright, please take a seat in the waiting area," the woman behind the desk said, and Iris nodded in response.

"It'll be fine," Cilan said once they were seated. She recognized his voice as the one he used when he himself tried to stay calm as well, so the words on their own didn't help much. But he was talking to her, and he was trying to help, and Iris felt the nerves recede some. She smiled in appreciation. This time, his answering smile seemed less forced than before.

Doctor Nomoto was the same as she remembered from the last time; a pale, round-faced woman with friendly brown eyes. Despite being young, she had a professional air and Iris found herself calming as they spoke about her wellbeing and her complaints. Cilan was quiet, only asking the occasional question.

Her nerves started to return when it was time to measure her blood pressure and when a bit of blood was taken for some tests.

"So far, so good," doctor Nomoto said. "Now, what you've both been waiting for…" She gestured to the bed on the other side of the room. "The sonogram."

After the doctor had prodded her belly a few times she applied the gel and then pressed the device to her skin.

On the screen, something grainy and difficult to identify appeared, but then there was a fast, rhythmic movement-

"That's the heart," the doctor explained. "Let's see if we can get a proper view of the baby… Ah, there."

The profile of something human-like came into view. A baby… It was strange to think that that would be their baby. That it already was their baby. Iris risked a glance at Cilan, who was watching with clear wonder.

"It all looks perfectly fine," doctor Nomoto. "There's the head, and the stomach, and oh, it turned again, let's see if we can get it back into view, ah, right…"

As the doctor explained what they were seeing, Iris found her smile growing wider. She glanced at Cilan and found him looking at her with a strange but genuine smile on his face. His eyes were a bit glassy.

Before she could think about it more, she joked, "You're such a little kid." It came out a bit choked.

To her relief, Cilan's smile widened. Iris beamed back at him. Before the moment could grow awkward, she turned her attention back to the screen, and together, they watched their baby.

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I hope you guys liked this chapter! Things between Iris and Cilan are slowly getting a bit better. Please let me know your thoughts!

Thank you!

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