A/N: Thank you very much for your enthusiastic replies! I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. I hope you like this one as well!

To Duvarishka: Haha, you would be right ;) I don't believe that what I wrote down is canon, though perhaps it is accepted by the fandom as an explanation as to why Paul's parents are never seen. The Brandon theory I've seen before, too. It's just my personal interpretation for this story, but who knows what I might do in another story. Anyway, I'm glad that you liked the chapter and thought the conversation was handled well. Thanks a lot for your elaborate review!

Days

The day Cilan is busy

Cilan

Thursday, February 20th

"It's not a problem at all, sir, don't worry about it," Cilan reassured mister Parrish, who nodded distractedly.

Truly, the man had been acting odd since the start of the appointment, though Cilan was of course too well-mannered to call him out on it. He was the one getting paid for being here, after all.

"I do apologize, Cilan, but-" mister Parrish gestured at his phone, "-the Ghost Pokémon Support Association..." The older man shook his head. "I have an urgent meeting, that is all."

Cilan wanted to pry if it had something to do with his 'promotion,' but considering the state of his client right now, he knew he couldn't. "Of course, sir, it's really no problem. You are one of my best clients and you are making so much progress with your Pumpkaboo, it's no problem if we cut this meeting short. We'll just plan a new one."

"Good, good," mister Parrish said, for a change not puffing up at the compliment. "I will contact you about a new appointment, alright?"

"Certainly, mister Parrish," Cilan said, though he inwardly worried at the man's reactions. He hoped nothing too dire was going on…

Still, he didn't linger on it too long; he'd already squeezed in this appointment while he actually should have been at the Gym, and being back earlier meant that he could unburden his brothers sooner.

Besides that the Gym was always busier in the days before the Vertress Conference – people trying to get their last Badge or getting in some last-minute training – he and his brothers would also give an exhibition match at the opening ceremony of the Vertress Conference. Fortunately, Cress and Chili had taken it upon themselves to plan it this year, but they still had to practice.

Cilan hurried home through the cold. The better weather during his camping trip with Iris that had seemed to signal the start of spring had only held for a few days, and the temperature had dropped even lower than before.

When he got back to the Gym, it was rather crowded. The battlefield was taken by Cress and a challenger with a Heatmor, and there were quite some people gathered to watch. When they saw him enter, several pointed at him excitedly and started making their way to him. Oh dear. It appeared that they wouldn't have time to practice their exhibition match, with this many challengers.

"I challenge you to a Gym Battle!" one of them called out, while another practically elbowed him out of the way.

"No way, dude, I got here first!"

Cilan held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Don't worry, you will all get your turns."

At least, as long as the Gym was open. They had the opening hours of the restaurant to stick to, too, after all.

"We'll have to wait until my brother is finished, though," he said, turning his attention to Cress. It was a shame that they only had one battlefield that was qualified to hold Gym Battles on, but there was nothing to be done about it. It was only during the end and the beginning of the battling season that it was this busy, anyway.

Cress was defeated, and he graciously offered a Badge to the trainer, who was one of their regular challengers and thus denied the Badge. "I already got one, but this was good practice for the League!"

Cilan's challengers had managed to form a semi-organized line during Cress's battle. He recognized some of them from yesterday; it seemed that he would be having some rematches.

Cress switched with Chili as a referee, while Chili took a break, and Cilan took his place on the battle field. "It's time for the battle to be served!'

Time passed quickly as Cilan lost himself in the rhythm of battling, refereeing and resting. Despite the pressure of having this many challengers, Cilan was actually quite enjoying himself. And miraculously, they managed to get all the challengers out of the door before closing time, with even some time to spare.

"Whew, that was quite a day!" Chili said. He clapped Cilan on the shoulder. "Great that you were back early, that saved us."

"Well, we do still have to practice our exhibition match," Cress pointed out, holding up a Poké Ball.

Chili pulled a face. "Ah, man-"

Cilan's phone rang and he gladly took it as a way to get away from his brothers' squabbling.

Iris, the display read, and Cilan felt a shot of worry run through him. No, there wasn't anything wrong with Iris, really, she could just be calling for a chat... Even though she knew he would be working right now…

"Iris? Hello?" Cilan picked up the phone hastily.

"Hey, Cilan," Iris said. She sounded fine, though maybe a bit uncertain, and Cilan smiled in relief.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Who, me?" Cilan replied in surprise. "I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You sounded a bit… Well, never mind, that's okay." He could hear the smile in her voice and he felt his own smile widening.

"How can I be of service to you?"

He could practically hear her eyes rolling, even as she chuckled a bit.

"Uhm, yeah, I'm sorry for interrupting your work, but I just wanted to- uh," Iris seemed to wrestle with what she wanted to say. Was it nerves? She sounded happy, though.

"Hm?" he encouraged.

"Yesterday... I kinda felt something. And today I felt it again," she started. "I felt something in my stomach, I mean. It was... really odd. At first, I thought that it was just, I don't know, something I ate, but it happened again today and well, apparently it is normal for the stage I'm in now, according to those leaflets..."

She trailed off, while Cilan had some difficulty grasping what she was saying, the seconds ticking by as he put the pieces together.

"You felt the baby move?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yes." Iris laughed.

"That's..." She had felt the baby move. It was real, it was so real... Cilan grinned widely, suddenly feeling impossibly light. "That's wonderful."

And even when, after a few more minutes, Cress came to pull at Cilan to cut the call short and to get back to work, nothing could ruin his good mood for the rest of the evening.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This chapter came pretty easily, too, which was nice. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave me a review!

Thank you!