A/N: Thank you for the support! And somewhere it's still Sunday, right? XD Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy!

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

Days

The day Misty forgets something

Misty

Thursday, January 9th

No new information. Of course no new information. Misty tightened her hold on the handlebars and took a turn in the direction of the Cerulean Gym. She'd had how many of these talks now- ten, twenty? None of them brought new information on the table, though it did solidify the information they already had.

Her pace was slower than it had been at the beginning of the day, and Misty wanted to do nothing more than to plop down on the couch and do nothing. And this was her lucky day, because she was going to do exactly that when she got home. Her last appointment ended at two and for some reason Leaf had not planned in another, so she was going to cycle home and do nothing.

Or maybe she could do something fun with Ash, or play with her Pokémon, or take a swim. It had been too long since she'd done any of those things.

Misty breathed out heavily, a puff of hot air in the cold around her.

Swimming had been out for weeks already. Ash she saw in passing, mostly in the evenings, and by then she was usually too exhausted to do anything. She still fed and cared for and trained with her Pokémon, but it wasn't as relaxed as it used to be. No, her days now consisted of working through suspicious death cases, making charts and figures about her findings, visiting relatives of those murdered, having meetings with other League members, and watching a frustrated Morty. Oh, and being nauseous in the morning, though she would very much like to scrap that from her agenda.

Misty took another turn in the direction of her home. Ash had told her to stay positive, but she did not have that naturally optimistic spirit he had. Still... The Gym was being taken care of, that was something. Daisy was really getting into the whole thing, even if Ash was still helping a lot. Hopefully working more at the Gym would change Daisy's mind. She didn't want the Gym to leave her family's hands.

The buildings around her became more familiar as she neared her own neighborhood. The snow that had covered the city before had now all melted, though in some corners a bit of the grey half-melted slush remained. Although Misty had liked the snow, it did make for easier travelling without it.

Her phone buzzed against her upper leg.

Misty wanted to hit something. Of course they wouldn't leave her alone. She stopped the bike and hopped off, letting the bike rest against hips. She forcefully pulled off her gloves and then took her phone out of her jeans pocket.

Her anger was halted when she saw the caller ID. Why would Ash be calling her in the middle of a work day?

"Hello?"

"Misty? Is everything okay?" Ash's voice sounded nervously through the speaker. "Are you still working? I didn't want to bother you, but-"

Realization dawned and this time Misty did hit something; her own forehead.

"-we have an appointment with the doctor, remember?"

"I remember." She moaned. Fuck. "I remember now. I, uh-" Damn it, the hospital was on the other side of the city, where she had just come from. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Hopefully.

"Alright," Ash said, sounding relieved. "I'll see you in twenty minutes then."

"See you." Misty ended the call and suppressed a groan when she saw the time on her phone. She had had an appointment at half past two, and she now remembered discussing it with Leaf, placing her last appointment in Cerulean City itself, not planning anything after-

A talk they'd had about a week ago.

Quickly, Misty got back on her bike and turned right around, silently cursing the circumstances and her own forgetfulness as her feet started pumping the pedals.

By the time she arrived at the hospital, Misty was out of breath and sweating despite the cold. She parked her bike and loosened her coat and scarf on the way to the entrance.

Inside, Ash already stood waiting, playing with his phone though his eyes constantly flickered from the screen to the door. Pikachu appeared to have been left at home, Misty noted.

Ash smiled in relief when he saw her and Misty greeted him with a smile.

"Is everything okay? I didn't want to interrupt your work, but I didn't know what had happened…"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine. I was already finished, I, er," Misty faltered, not liking to admit her forgetfulness, "I had actually just forgotten about this meeting."

The relieved smile disappeared from Ash's face. "Oh."

"Well, let's go," Misty said, not wanting to dwell on it. "We're already late as it is."

She lead the way to the right department, Ash just a step behind her.

"Hello," Misty greeted the woman behind the desk. "We're terribly sorry that we're late, but we had an appointment with Dr. Kotake at half past two." She stole a glance at the clock behind the desk; fifteen minutes late.

"Ah, Mrs. Ketchum, yes," the woman said, eyes on the screen. "Your husband already called that you would be later, you can go right on to room number three."

Surprised and grateful she turned to Ash, who shrugged. "Thought it would be better to let them know we would be later, right?"

"Yes, that's… that's very good, thank you," Misty started slowly and ended with a smile. Perhaps Ash was finally growing up.

They thanked the lady behind the desk and then moved to the right room, which door was already open.

"Ah, Mrs. Ketchum," the young, tanned woman in the room rose from her chair to shake their hands as they entered. "Mr. Ketchum, welcome."

"We're sorry that we're later," Misty started right off, and the doctor nodded as she closed the door.

"Nothing to be done about it now," she said brusquely, flicking her long black braid over her shoulder and then putting her hands together. "We'll just quickly run over the questions and then I'll check up on you, if you don't mind me rushing the appointment."

"No, no, that's fine." Misty liked the straightforward ways of this doctor. No nonsense, just got to work.

As Dr. Kotake had said, she asked a multitude of questions and typed down Misty's short answers even as she continued with the next question. The pace of the appointment slowed marginally once her blood pressure was measured while at the same time the doctor was taking a blood sample.

"Looks good," Dr. Kotake said as she typed the results. "Nothing wrong with your blood pressure or anything I can see in your blood. So onto the sonography?"

"Yes, please," Misty said, already getting up and walking to the examination bed.

Dr. Kotake poked Misty's belly a few times before applying the gel. Ash was anxiously standing next to the bed, constantly moving from one foot to another. Misty grasped his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"It'll be fine."

He hadn't said anything yet during the consultation, Misty suddenly realized.

"I'm fine," he said habitually, and Misty rolled her eyes.

Ash stubbornly turned his attention to the doctor, as if determined to prove her that he was, in fact, fine and not nervous at all. "Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl, on the sonography?"

Dr. Kotake gave him an understanding smile but shook her head. "We can't say yet. Usually it's visible around the sixteen weeks, but we wait until the 20th week to really say."

"I'm now almost twelve weeks," Misty answered the question that was sure to follow.

"I knew that," Ash said, sounding almost snappish.

"We haven't spoken about pregnancy courses yet, have we?" Dr. Kotake interrupted them. "We always advise to take a course, both of you, especially since this is your first child. The hospital offers one, but there are also other institutions that offer them. And there are also several books that are interesting and helpful for first-time parents. There are a few leaflets at the desk, be sure to have a look at them."

"We will," Misty said, making a mental note to do indeed that. Ash nodded along with her.

"Good. Now, let's see if your baby likes to be on the big screen…" For some moments, the doctor moved the probe over Misty's belly and then suddenly smiled at the screen. "Ah, there we have it."

"That's… that's the baby?" Ash asked quietly.

Misty's eyes widened in wonder and a smile spread across her face. She recognized the shape on the screen as her baby, seeing the fluttering that was its heartbeat. But unlike the first sonography, it now actually looked like a baby, with arms and legs-

"Yes, that's the baby," Dr. Kotake said, her voice softening a bit. "Everything appears to be in order. You can see the heart beating-" She pointed at the screen. "-and here are the head, the arms and legs…"

Misty nodded, beaming. "Our baby."

The doctor nodded and then turned her eyes back to the screen, probing with the device against Misty's belly to get a good view of the baby again.

"It's about five to six centimeters big right now," she said.

"That's so small…" Misty said, eyes glued to the screen as the baby's profile appeared again.

"Ah, here, do you want to have a picture of your baby like this?"

"Of course!" Misty said, glancing at Ash even as she agreed.

His mouth was slightly agape and his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the screen, but he seemed to sense her stare and turned to face her. Misty beamed and slowly Ash grinned back at her. She squeezed his hand. Then she looked back at the screen as Dr. Kotake continued to explain what they were seeing.

Neither of them noticed Ash's smile disappearing.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope it wasn't too boring to have another baby chapter, but then again, this is a pregnancy story haha. Plus there were some other important things in this chapter as well. Please let me know what you thought about it!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Harry Potter: The Cupboard Under the Stairs by LilyIsAwesomerThanYou. FFN. A heartfelt one-shot featuring, well, what the title says, really. Follow Harry and his cupboard through the years and see how things change.

Recommendations are welcome!