A/N: Thank you all for your support! And you might be wondering, what's this, another chapter? Yes, I won't be able to update tomorrow, so I thought I might as well update in advance instead of updating too late haha. So I hope you enjoy this earlier chapter!

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

Days

The day dishes are done

Ash

Monday, January 13th

"I'm going to bed," Misty said, fighting back a yawn. "We'll do-" The yawn won the fight and it interrupted her sentence. "-the dishes tomorrow."

"It's only nine," he protested weakly, even though Misty's plan sounded very tempting.

"I know." Misty sighed, running a hand through her red hair, mussing it up even further. She blinked her eyes wearily and Ash noted the dark bags below them. She was not doing well, and usually Ash would have offered to do the dishes himself, but tonight-

"Well, then we'll just leave it for tomorrow," Ash said. Misty blinked in surprise, and then nodded.

"I don't know if I'll have time for it tomorrow," she said slowly.

"Well, I won't either," Ash bit back, and then drew back, surprised at his own anger.

Misty frowned, her lips thinning. "You're at home tomorrow, you have more time than I do."

That was the wrong thing to say and Ash clenched his teeth. "I would have more time if I didn't have to pick up your chores."

Misty spluttered, her cheeks turning red. Ash prepared himself for an explosion, all ready to argue back, but Misty spat, "Fine, then I'll do the dishes." She practically pushed him away from the kitchen counter and started filling the sink.

Ash opened his mouth as if he wanted to protest, but then realized that he didn't really want to, and stomped away to the Pokémon area.

Only now he realized that Pikachu had left the kitchen sometime during their discussion, and Ash found him again in the Pokémon area. The Pokémon had already been fed and some looked up in curiosity when he entered, but when he didn't say anything, they continued with their playing or resting.

Well, all except for Pikachu, who interrupted his conversation with Rowlet to walk over to him. Rowlet flew after him and settled on Ash's shoulder, cooing in worry.

"It's nothing," Ash quickly assured them. "I'm fine."

"Pika," his oldest Pokémon said in comfort, and Ash kneeled to pet Pikachu's head.

It was partly true; already he could feel the anger draining out of him, leaving him feeling exhausted and guilty. But he was right, damn it! Misty was running around doing her Elite Four job, and he was taking care of their Pokémon, their house and the Gym! Her Gym!

Just thinking about it made his frustration grow again and seeming to sense that, Rowlet snuggled against him. Ash patted the Grass Quill Pokémon, taking in a deep breath and properly sat down on the ground, his back leaning against the wall.

He knew she was busy, he knew he liked helping her, he knew Misty appreciated it, but right now he just didn't want to be rational about it. This had been going on for weeks and while he knew Misty was grateful, it would be nice to hear that a bit more often.

While patting Pikachu and Rowlet, his thoughts went in circles a few more times until he grew frustrated with himself. He rubbed a hand over his face. He was an adult, damn it, he shouldn't be thinking like this. Positive, think positive.

"Daisy is still helping with the Gym," Ash said, more to himself than his Pokémon, though Pikachu nodded at him. He hadn't expected that she would keep at it for so long, but perhaps she was seriously thinking about taking over the Gym. Or she just wanted to help Misty.

"And the Gym is not that bad," he continued. It was a learning experience for him, even if it did cut back the time he could spent on his own training- no, positive thoughts. He had gotten closer to Misty's Pokémon, yes. And already they were getting stronger, that was quite an accomplishment, too.

And being at the Gym also made it easier to stay in contact with his friends. He now spoke Brock regularly, and he saw Gary and Tracey pretty much every week. Cilan was pretty busy himself, so their calls were usually short, and Iris was tightlipped about what happened at the not-wedding, but spoke happily about the Gym and her Pokémon. As for Dawn, she was participating in the Wayland Tournament, just like May-

Ash stopped petting Pikachu and pulled out his phone. He grinned at the yellow Pokémon. "The Wayland Tournament started yesterday, so let's see how Dawn and May are doing."

Oh, and Paul of course, he and Dawn had apparently become some sort of rivals. His Sinnoh rival had won the Lily of the Valley Conference twice and was aiming to become Champion, just like he was, but just like Ash he hadn't managed to beat the Elite Four yet. Although Paul had at least managed to win his regional League Conference – it had been years since Ash had participated in the Indigo Plateau Conference. But he had travelled a lot more than Paul had, and while he had never won a League Conference, that experience had to count for something.

This season was going to be his season, he knew it. This March he was going to win.

"Oh wow, there are really a lot of participants," Ash said in surprise, looking at the list on the Tournament website. He had considered participating, but had decided to focus on his training. And Misty needed his help, too.

He scrolled through the list, trying to find his friends' names. "Ah man, the first round lasts three day! And it only started today!"

"Chu?"

"Oh, but there are videos of the participants… Look, here's Dawn!" Ash started the video, watching how Dawn commanded her Pachirisu and Ambipom. "She's doing pretty well, I think," he mused when Dawn and her Pokémon struck their final pose. He continued to scroll through the list. "May and Paul are scheduled for tomorrow… And Barry is participating, too! Man, I wish we could've been there."

"Row-row, rowlet," the bird on his shoulder said, and Ash nodded.

"Yeah, we can watch it on TV. Or see the reruns, more likely," he muttered, his mood dropping again as he put his phone back in his pocket.

Still, he had been sufficiently distracted and his anger had fizzled out. Now he just felt weary.

"I probably should go and talk to Misty, eh?" Ash sighed. "Apologize and so."

"Row," Rowlet said, while Pikachu nodded.

Ash stroked Rowlet's feathers and then put him back on the ground. He gave Pikachu a last pat and then got up.

He wished Pikachu and Rowlet a goodnight and then stepped back into the hallway. When the door closed behind him the din of the Pokémon quieted and Ash listened closely for a moment, but he couldn't hear any sounds coming from the kitchen. He stepped inside to find that Misty was gone and so were the dishes – had he really been with the Pokémon for so long?

He glanced in the living room but didn't find her there either, and when he heard the shower running he concluded she was upstairs.

Well, Ash knew he wasn't the most socially suave person, but even he knew that barging in on Misty having a shower right now was a bad idea. He walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch.

On the coffee table Misty's laptop still remained as well as heaps of papers. Ash resisted the temptation to look into them, knowing it was restricted League business and that he – and Misty – would get in serious trouble, no matter how good his intentions were.

Damn it, she was busy saving the world and he was being childish about doing the dishes. Ash ran a hand through his hair and leaned further back into the couch. He hadn't known that being married would be so difficult. How could they handle a kid in this kind of situation?

No, no, that would be fine. Things would get better. He had spoken with Gary and he had assured him that usually Leaf was never this busy, so Ash could only hope that their efforts would pay off sooner rather than later.

Ash yawned and felt that if he made himself any more comfortable on this couch, he was going to fall asleep. He forced himself up again and started putting Misty's papers together – not looking at them, of course, just putting them on some neat piles instead of the messy chaos they were.

The sound of shower stopped and Ash glanced at the clock. Huh, already past ten. He hadn't noticed the time passing that quickly. Well, he might as well get ready for bed, too, and then he could talk to Misty.

He walked through the house to turn off the lights, though he only dimmed the ones in the Pokémon area. They knew how to turn off the lights, and Pikachu kept them all under control so that some wouldn't stay up too late or bother others who were trying to sleep.

Ash smiled faintly as he recalled how Pikachu used to sleep in his bed, but all parties involved had quickly found out that no one liked that when things other than sleeping were happening. So Pikachu had joined his teammates in the Pokémon area downstairs, though occasionally he'd come to Ash and Misty early in the morning.

"Goodnight, everyone," he called to the Pokémon, who answered with varying degrees of noise, and then Ash walked back to the living room and to the stairs.

He found Misty in their bedroom, sitting up in bed with a book in her lap. Although her hair was messy and damp from the shower, Ash thought that she looked better than before.

Misty looked up from her book – one of the pregnancy books Dr. Kotake had recommended to them – and the narrowing of her eyes told him their spat wasn't forgotten yet.

Well, no sense in delaying the inevitable.

"You did the dishes," Ash stated. Misty only nodded.

"Thank you," Ash said, speaking quickly. "Sorry for getting angry, I know you're busy, and I appreciate you doing the dishes now, that means I can train some tomorrow so I appreciate that, thank you."

The tension flowed from Misty and she heaved a huge sigh. Her eyes fell back to the book, but she said quietly, "I'm sorry, too. I know you're busy with the Gym when you should be training for the Indigo League."

Ash managed a smile. "So we're good then?"

Misty looked back at him and smiled. "We're good."

"Good," Ash said, the smile coming easier now and feeling a whole lot lighter. He changed in his pajamas while Misty returned her attention to the book.

"Is it interesting?" Ash asked quietly as he joined her in bed.

"It is, actually," Misty said, though contradictorily closed the book. "But it's a bit longwinded at times." She grinned, though Ash thought there was some hesitance in the action.

He smiled in response. "All books are longwinded," he joked, and then added after a moment, "Except comics maybe."

"You'd say that," Misty said, her smile widening. Then she waved the book in front of his face. "But there's some seriously interesting stuff in here."

"And also a lot of words."

Misty huffed and laughed, then put the book away.

"But uh, now that we're on the subject," Misty started, her tone becoming serious once more. "It's almost three months, you know."

Ash blinked, taking a moment to make the switch in topics. "You're three months pregnant."

"Exactly. So you knows what that means, right?" Misty said, then added teasingly, "You'd know if you'd read the book."

Ash stuck out his tongue, though inwardly he felt a bit nervous. He did know what this meant, right? "Well, we can't tell the gender of the baby yet, that's at eighteen weeks," he said, putting confidence he didn't quite feel in his words. "And three months mean that… the baby is about done and things don't go wrong that often anymore."

Misty actually seemed a bit impressed and Ash pulled a face. "I do pay attention sometimes, you know."

"I know, I know," Misty quickly said, chuckling. "It also means we can start telling people." Her eyes shone brightly.

"Telling people…" Ash said slowly, thinking. Gary would understand his stress a bit better, he thought wryly, but said, "Mom will love it. She'll absolutely spoil the kid."

Misty beamed and laughed. "I don't doubt that."

"She'll love being a grandmother," he agreed.

She had since long been hinting at grandchildren, and even though she was not lonely with Professor Oak, Gary and Tracey around – and he himself now more, too – he knew that she had always wanted a big family. That dream had fallen through when his father had left.

Ash shook that thought away; he could scarcely remember the man and was not about to start thinking about him now.

"Professor Oak will be very happy, too," Ash continued. "And your sisters will be great aunts, of course."

"Brock will tease," Misty said, chuckling.

"He's got no right to talk," Ash said. "Lucy's gonna pop in about a month or so."

Misty swatted him. "She's not 'gonna pop,' she's going to have a baby." But she was laughing.

Ash chuckled along with her, before sobering a bit. "And in six months… We're one third through, now."

"One third through," Misty repeated, and then leaned closer to him and pressed a kiss to his lips. "We'll be fine."

He kissed her back. "We'll be fine."

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I admit that I hadn't gotten the fight planned, but Ash had had quite enough apparently haha. And while the pregnancy is about one third through, we're only about a quarter through the story, so I suppose that says something about my planning haha. Anyway, please review, and I'll see you in a bit more than a week!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Harry Potter: Fallen From Grace by Gitana del Sol. FFN. This is a beautifully written and symbolic one-shot about the fall from grace of Barty Crouch, junior and senior. I can't say more than that, but check it out!

If you have a story you want me to recommend, whether it's your own or someone else's, let me know!