A/N: Look, it's a quick update! XD Thank you for your support and I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

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

Days

The day Ash is forgotten

Cilan

Monday, January 27th

"I suppose this will do…" Cilan said, more to himself than Iris, who was seated behind him on the bed.

He heard her move and he turned around to show her the suit he had pulled from the closet. It was a black suit with a dark shirt to go with it, the most somber attire he owned.

Iris gave him a nod and then let her head drop back on his bed. Or was it their bed? She had been sleeping in it the past few nights, right next to him, ever since Shauntal's death…

Cilan checked over the suit and decided that yes, it was suitable for the funeral tomorrow. It would be a public event, and it was expected to be well-attended, because Shauntal had been a loved Elite Four member and a famous writer.

"What are you going to wear?" he asked, and he was unsurprised when Iris remained silent. Her eyes were wide open, though, focused on the ceiling of the bedroom.

He sat down with her on the bed, and their hands found each other.

Cilan took a deep breath and let it escape through his nose. Too much had happened these past days…

Shauntal had been murdered.

Skyla had been caught under a Nightmare attack.

And Iris had found them.

He glanced at her, but she was still staring at the ceiling.

Ever since the murder Iris had been staying mostly at his place. Considering all Gyms were closed in mourning, she hadn't needed to be home once she had transported her Pokémon, and so she had stayed.

Cilan wasn't sure if Iris was handling it well. She had cried a lot the first day, but after that she had grown silent. He wasn't sure how much of that was natural, and how much had been caused by Alder's visit on the second day.

In Cilan's (probably biased) opinion, the Champion had only made it worse. He felt anger built and he let out a slow breath to calm himself down.

Shauntal was dead. Murdered. She had been an Elite Four member and now she was gone. And in these unstable times, Alder needed full support behind him.

So he had asked Iris to become the new Elite Four member.

That had been so insensitive, and so infuriating, and so, so-

Iris gave his hand a light shake, and Cilan realized that he had been squeezing rather hard.

"Sorry," he said, relaxing his hold.

Iris hummed.

"I was just thinking…" Cilan started, then let the sentence die.

In reaction to Alder's offer, Iris had looked like she was about to fall apart, and Champion or no, Cilan had ushered Alder out without further ado.

They hadn't spoken about his offer again, and though Cilan had occasionally tried to bring up Shauntal, Iris had always quickly shut down the conversation.

He didn't know if he should push it or just let it rest, he didn't know whether to stay with her or to leave her alone, to distract her or not, he just didn't know – it made him feel powerless.

After the funeral Alder would undoubtedly ask again, and this time he wouldn't be so easily dissuaded.

"Yes?" Iris prompted, and it took Cilan a moment to realize he had been in the middle of a sentence.

"Alder will ask again tomorrow," Cilan said, turning to look at her and giving her hand a light squeeze.

Iris averted her eyes.

"Do you already know what you're going to say?" he continued, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

There was a long pause, but Iris surprised him by actually answering instead of avoiding the issue. "I don't know... It's a big honor, but... I don't know if I'm a strong enough Trainer for it…"

Of course he himself had considered the question as well, and the doubt if Iris was strong enough was not something that had crossed his mind. If she would like it, if she could handle the League politics, if she wanted to give up the Gym, how they would combine it in their lives-

"You are strong. You are definitely strong enough for this. And if this is what you want..."

"You don't like it," Iris pointed out, and while her voice was mostly flat, Cilan thought that he heard a hint of amusement in there.

She gave him a wry smile, and Cilan smiled apologetically.

"Alder didn't ask me," he answered, and Iris's wry smile grew into a more genuine one, maybe even with a hint of pride. Her smiles had been rare these days, and Cilan found himself smiling back.

"He asked you," he said. "And you want to do it, right." It was meant as a question, but it sounded like a statement. He gave her a questioning look.

"Well, yeah. But it was always just a dream… I mean, who didn't have that dream?"

Cilan nodded, knowing what she meant. As a child, becoming a Gym Leader and then becoming an Elite Four member had been the path he had envisioned for himself, at least until he found out how much actual politics were concerned with the position. And when he found out about Pokémon Connoisseurs, that had become his dream.

Iris smiled, but before more could be said about the subject, the phone rang. Cilan let out a long-suffering sigh, and he heard Iris let out a groan as he walked to the videophone in the living room. He was in no mood for more League dealings right now, he had a client to see in a few hours, and he had been enjoying his time with Iris-

"The Cerulean Gym?" Cilan said to himself as he looked at the caller ID.

"Hello?" He accepted the call and the screen turned on, revealing a smiling Ash. His excited smile diminished at seeing Cilan's serious expression, and Cilan quickly put on a polite smile.

"Hey, Cilan!" Ash said, his smile returning though worry continued to stay in his eyes. "How are you?"

"Hello, Ash," he greeted, and he heard Iris walk through the corridor towards the living room. "I'm a bit stressed. You know what happened with Shauntal..."

Ash nodded solemnly, and Cilan glanced to the door opening, where Iris was now standing, obviously in doubt whether to join the conversation.

"Iris is… having difficulties with it," Cilan said, stealing another glance at Iris. "We don't talk about it a lot."

"Were... were she and Shauntal friends?" Ash asked.

Just as Cilan was considering how he could delicately tell Ash that Iris had been the one to find Shauntal dead, Iris then took a few confident strides and joined him in front of the screen.

"I found her," she said strongly, only the slightest waver in her voice that Cilan thought only he could hear.

"What?!"

Iris nodded without further reply, and Cilan took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Whoa… Iris, that's… How- how are you dealing with it?" Ash shook his head. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me, I mean, if it's too painful-"

Iris was silent for a moment, and Cilan fully expected that she would stay so, as she had done when he had asked.

She turned to look at him, and a shock ran through him when he saw she was holding back tears. He pulled her in a hug.

"I'm sorry," Ash stuttered, "This- this is a bad time, I should go-"

Iris pushed herself half out of Cilan's arms to protest, tears still in her eyes but not full on crying, "No, that's not necessary, I just…"

She rubbed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "As you can see, I'm not fine," she said, almost drily. She took a shaking breath and rubbed her eyes again. "So let's just… talk about something else and…"

A tear ran down her face and Iris angrily swept it away. Cilan held onto her, rubbing circles on her back in a way that he hoped was comforting.

"Arceus, stupid pregnancy, it's making me emotional," Iris said, furiously wiping away another tear.

"Iris, it's completely normal to cry about something like this," Cilan said, taking her hand and then using his other hand to gently wipe away another tear.

Iris took in another shaking breath, and Cilan placed his arm back around her. They stood like that for a few minutes as Iris regathered herself, and she gave him a shaky smile.

"I'm fine now," she said, and Cilan smiled at her and let her go, though he didn't step away.

Iris smiled – a real, genuine smile – but then suddenly her eyes widened and she did a quarter turn. "Oh, Ash!"

Cilan breathed in sharply and turned to the screen, where indeed, Ash was still present. He had completely forgotten about him! The other man didn't seem to know how to react, and had settled for an uncomfortable, shocked expression that still managed to look questioning.

"Sorry!" Ash squeaked, waving his hands at them as if he could just erase the moment. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to- I mean, I didn't know what to do, you two were talking and it was intense and you don't say goodbye at a moment like that, and I did my best not to listen, but-" He flapped his hands again, words seeming to fail him.

It all looked rather comical, and when Iris chuckled, Cilan allowed himself a smile, too.

"It's okay, Ash," Iris said, giving him a sideways glance, and he confirmed, "Yes, it's okay, Ash."

Ash smiled in relief but still seemed flustered. "So… you're pregnant?"

Cilan felt his jaw drop and mentally rewound the conversation in his head. Oh Arceus, Iris had said…

He turned to look at her and found his own shock and realization mirrored in her expression.

"Uh…" Iris started, then gave him a helpless look.

"Er, yeah," Cilan decided to wing it. "We hadn't mentioned that yet, had we?" He let out a nervous chuckle, but managed to sound more confident and maybe even proud when he continued, "Iris and I are expecting a baby."

"I- wow, congratulations!" Ash seemed completely blown away, but he was grinning widely and Cilan felt his own mood lift with it. He looked at Iris to see that she was smiling and she gave him a slight nod.

"Wow, that's really amazing! Congratulations!" Ash continued, still beaming.

Iris's smile widened further. "Thank you, Ash." Then she added, "We only told our families yet, so we'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone yet – well, I suppose you can tell Misty, but not Brock..."

Cilan nodded along with her words. His parents had been delighted though a bit reserved – but he couldn't blame them for that after the not-wedding.

"Sure, sure." Ash nodded, excitedly bouncing on his chair, and several times he opened his mouth to say something only to shut it again, all the while grinning like a fool. That was a bit of a strange reaction…

"Alright, spit it out," Iris said, giving him a scrutinizing look.

Ash smiled sheepishly for a moment, before grinning widely again. "Well, I did call for a reason…"

He paused dramatically, as if to build up for a big reveal. Or maybe he was just thinking how he could best say it. Iris raised her eyebrows while Cilan patiently waited.

"Well, I mean, it's really a coincidence..." Ash said. "But… Misty and I are expecting a baby as well."

Cilan's jaw dropped, while Iris exclaimed, "No way!"

He quickly regathered himself and grinned at his best friend. "Congratulations, Ash! That's wonderful news."

"Yeah, it's creepily coincidental, but congratulations!" Iris said, and Cilan realized that she almost sounded like her old self. His smile widened.

"How's Misty?" Iris asked. "Any pregnancy issues?"

"Oh, she's doing fine," Ash answered. "I believe she has more mood swings, but she doesn't believe it when I say so-"

Cilan let out a chuckle. He relaxed and immersed himself in the conversation, enjoying the relative normalcy and relaxed atmosphere of the moment, because the troubles of the rest of the world would come back soon enough.

A/N: Thank you for reading! This was a fun one to write, though it changed a bit from my original rough draft (Iris wasn't present for the conversation with Ash in the first version). But I like this version better, so here you go. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave me a review on your way out!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Divergent: The series Mutually Assured Destruction consisting of Paramnesia, Drunk Dial and Hiraeth by PeterTheProblematic (GoWithHappiness). AO3. Rated M! A sadly unfinished series (so far, at least) that has the AU that a memory serum was used to wipe the memories of the factions to keep the experiment going. It has an exciting plot and besides that Tris/Peter shipping, with the enemies-to-lovers trope, always a favorite of mine. Recommended!

Recommendations are welcome!