A/N: Thank you for reading! Here's the next one! That's quick, right? ;) I hope you enjoy!

Days

The day with a revelation

Misty

Wednesday, February 26th

"Are you ready to go, Ash?" Misty asked, already holding the car keys and wearing her thick coat. It was freezing cold outside and the icy wind seemed to be able to bite through all layers of fabric, no matter how much she wore.

Ash's eyes were glued to the TV screen, and with him sat Pikachu, Rotom, Corphish and Hawlucha, with the same intent expression on their faces.

Misty felt the urge to roll her eyes. The match was already over, Paul had won against Bertha; admittedly, it had been exciting match, especially with how he had used his Electivire, but watching Paul shake hands with the defeated Elite Four member was hardly worth that kind of rapt attention.

"I haven't seen this part yet," Ash said, not taking his eyes of the screen. They had switched to showing some reruns of the first half of the battle, which Ash had indeed missed because of his own battles.

"Ash…" Misty said, a warning in her voice. They had an appointment, and she did not want to be late.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Ash said, though he made no movement to get up.

Misty now did roll her eyes. It was terribly annoying when he got so sucked in by Pokémon battling, but a small part of her was glad. Ash had been getting bored these past weeks, and now with all the Leagues going on, there was enough for him to fill his time with.

Misty's eyebrows creased as she thought back on what had happened at the opening of the Vertress Conference. Leaf had increased security at the Indigo Conference, but so far, things seemed to go smoothly.

They were in the middle of the preliminary rounds of the Indigo League right now, and for Ash, it seemed to be a breeze so far. Pure luck, of course, because the opponents were drawn at random, and he had been matched to fight against two relative rookies. Poor kids, Misty thought with a shake of her head. Ash had done his best to 'go easy' on them and not to go overboard, but as soon as one of them had thought to pull a trick, Ash had been merciless.

Hopefully, the rest of the tournament would go just as smoothly.

Ash pushed himself up from the floor and turned off the television. "Alright, yes, let's go," he said, dusting off his pants. "Guys, you just stay here, okay? We'll be right back and the hospital isn't a place for you to hang around."

"Pika!" his oldest Pokémon agreed, and the others nodded or responded in confirmation as well. Pikachu pressed the remote to turn the screen back on.

Ash raised his eyebrow at the yellow Pokémon, before shaking his head slightly. "Alright, you go watch some more of Paul's battle. See you soon."

Misty watched as Ash hastily pulled on his jacket, and then they quickly hurried to the car. A glance at the clock on the dashboard made Misty relax in the driver's seat; they should still be on time.

"It was a good battle, wasn't it?" she asked as Ash fastened his seatbelt.

"Absolutely!" Ash said. He was still practically bouncing, even with his seatbelt on. "I can't wait to have my own battles like that! Paul is really good. I think he has a good chance to win everything and beat Cynthia."

"He's halfway now, isn't he?" Misty asked as they drove away from the Gym.

"Yes, just Flint and Lucian. And Cynthia, of course."

"It would definitely shake things up, if he got so far," Misty agreed.

"I think he will," Ash said, his voice sounding more serious now and he turned to look out of the window. "I think he will."

The conversation died down after that, the radio the only sound between them as Misty drove through the rather crowded city. Ash's big smile at the start of the ride grew smaller and smaller as they neared the hospital.

"Don't worry, Ash," Misty said quietly, guessing at his thoughts.

After they had visited Brock, Ash had expressed his worry to her that he had no clue what he was doing and that he didn't know how to be a father, how to handle babies or children...

Well, that was nothing new. And it wasn't as if she did, either. But she was sure that they could handle it, and she hoped her confidence would rub off on Ash.

"I'm not worried," he said quickly.

Misty dropped the issue. Hopefully time would also help Ash with his confidence in this. She smiled to herself. They would be fine.

Misty parked the car, and they found their way to the waiting room without getting lost. As they waited, Ash grew increasingly more silent and stiffer. Some Butterfree had also settled in her own stomach. Hopefully everything was well with the baby, and today would also be the moment that they could tell the gender…

Doctor Kreutz called them in, and both Misty and Ash had to look up a bit as they shook hands with the tall doctor.

They went over some general questions first: yes, she was feeling well, no, she wasn't having any complaints, and yes, she was eating well, and no, she wasn't in pain when peeing, and so on. None of her answers seemed to worry the doctor and Misty found herself relaxing.

"Now, then, your blood results also seem to be perfectly fine," the woman said as she glanced the computer screen. "Let me just measure your blood pressure…"

A band was placed around her arm and it tightened as it was inflated. As the device measured, doctor Kreutz turned her brown eyes to Ash.

"Are you nervous?"

Ash looked at her like a Deerling caught in the headlights.

"No, no, I'm fine... Well, maybe a little nervous." He grinned sheepishly.

"That's perfectly normal," the doctor said. "There are a lot of handy guidebooks, you know." She glanced at Misty. "For both of you. Of course, nothing can prepare you completely for the care of a baby, but all small bits help."

She turned to take the blood pressure monitor of Misty's arm. "122/82, perfectly normal."

Misty breathed in relief. "Good."

Doctor Kreutz clasped her hands together. "So, then we'll go on to the sonography and check up on the baby, okay?"

"Oh, yes!" Misty hadn't meant to sound so enthusiastic, and she felt herself flush. But the doctor only smiled friendly and gestured for her to follow.

Before she knew it, she was lying on her back on the examination table and cold gel was rubbed over her stomach. The baby bump was still just small, and with a probe doctor Kreutz started poking at it. A grainy image in greyscale appeared on the screen next to the bed, and after some more probing, the doctor spoke, "Now, see, there's the heart."

Doctor Kreutz pointed at something rapidly flickering on the screen and Misty felt a wide smile appear on her face.

"So, and if I move it like this…" the other woman continued. "Yes, now you can see the silhouette of the baby. Can you see? Here's the head, the legs, the stomach…"

Misty eagerly absorbed the information with a wide smile.

"Come a bit closer, then you can see better," doctor Kreutz said to Ash, and Misty realized that Ash was watching from a distance. He slowly came forward, and Misty smiled encouragingly at him. He should get over his nerves, this was so wonderful!

Doctor Kreutz repeated some of the things she had already pointed out to Misty so Ash could also see, and she concluded with, "All in all, I'd say this looks like a very healthy baby."

"That's great news," Misty said. Ash was smiling hesitantly, though it widened when they made eye contact.

"Do you want to know the gender?" doctor Kreutz asked.

They had talked about this before, and Misty gave Ash a last questioning look. When he nodded, she answered, "Yes, please."

The doctor smiled. "It appears to be a boy."

A boy...

Misty found herself grinning, so much things running through her mind that she couldn't keep up with it. She had grown up with only girls, but she had never been a girly girl, so she was sure that she could handle raising a baby boy. Would he look like her? Or would he take after Ash? She couldn't imagine a kid of the two of them being quiet, so he would be active, always outdoors, running and playing…

Her mind was still spinning when she got off the examination table and she was only calming down just a little when they left the office.

Ash didn't say anything on the way back home, but Misty was so lost in her own happy thoughts that she could only assume that he was thinking the same things as she did.

A/N: And, what did you think about it? I'm very excited to hear your thoughts :D Thank you for reading, and please leave me a review!

Thank you!