Dawn went back and forth on something after lunch, frowning, then shook her head and went to the Pokémon Centre.

Ash wasn't sure why, at first, but he didn't complain – he was still wondering if they were going to be entering the Tag Battle tournament – and he and Cynthia ended up standing (or sitting, in Cynthia's case) in the lobby.

"Does it bother you, that you have to stand so much more often?" Cynthia asked.

"I… don't really think so?" Ash answered. "Or… less, now, anyway."

He lifted a hoof. "I guess it might be harder if I wasn't, uh, me, but my hooves can stick to things and I've got four legs. So staying upright isn't really hard, and I don't get tired very quickly. I don't think I could sleep standing up, but standing there for a long time isn't a problem or anything."

"I didn't just mean physically, though that's good to know," Cynthia told him. "I was actually thinking about how… you don't have the choice."

Ash looked away.

"It does still bother me sometimes, yeah," he admitted. "Less than when this happened, but still a bit. And I…"

He frowned, not sure how to put it.

"I get it," he decided to say. "Most trainers can sit down or have other options, and it's not like there's really something they could do to make it that much easier for me, anyway. But it's… annoying, sometimes?"

Then Ash sighed. "Or maybe that's not even the word, it just… sometimes I remember that most places aren't built with people shaped like me in mind, and it makes me feel sad."

Cynthia nodded.

"I understand that," she said. "Or… I don't have experience with it, but I do understand what you mean. And I think you're doing very well, exactly because you don't complain about it, and because you recognize those things."

Ash nodded, swallowing past a lump in his throat.

"It usually doesn't bother me," he said. "Not enough to say anything. But it's always just sort of… there."

Then Dawn came hurrying over.

"Ash?" she said. "I know it's a bit of a pain, but – can you come and help me with my call to my mom? She's not sure if I'm okay or not."

"Not sure if you're okay?" Ash repeated, confused.

"I called her to ask for Contest advice," Dawn explained. "About how to get back into the Contest mindset after spending months doing something else, and I had to explain how I could possibly have fit months doing something else in since the Floaroma Contest, and I said I'd gone back in time before being brought back by two of my friend's children who he hadn't created yet, and…"

She gave an awkward shrug. "And now I want to make sure my mom has a good reason to believe this, because it didn't sound hard to believe until I said the whole thing at once."

"You didn't tell her before?" Cynthia asked. "I'm not judging, I just want to make sure."

"No, I didn't," Dawn replied, looking down. "I didn't want her to worry, and… I guess I called her after my previous Contest, to say I won, but I wasn't in the habit of doing it."

"I don't think there's anything unusual about that," Latias volunteered. "I don't tell Latios most of what happens, and I can contact him really easily."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, frowning. "I… actually, I probably should tell my mom what happened at Alamos, or some of it."

He sighed. "I was… hoping that if I was going to let her know about Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, then I could do it with her being able to meet them."

"Honestly, that might not be so hard," Dawn replied. "If you really want them to meet your mom today, or whatever, then they could just work it out so they turn up then, right? They do use time travel – oh, hold on, I need to continue that call with mom!"

Ash helped to assure Dawn's mother Johanna that, yes, Dawn had gone back in time, but it was okay because she was back now.

That helped out, and she and Dawn had a long conversation after that, but while it was going on Ash began thinking hard about something.

"...I don't think I want to do that thing Dawn mentioned," he said. "You know, setting it up so that Walking Wake and Iron Leaves get introduced to mom today, or whatever… I know they'd just be okay with that, but I trust their judgement on this."

He sighed. "But I do think I should talk to mom… sometimes I've felt like if I call her every time something happens then I'd never stop calling her, but I shouldn't go too far the other way, right?"

"I don't really think I can help you there," Cynthia said. "That's not one of my areas of expertise."

"Of course I'd want to know about this," Delia told Ash, down the phone.

Ash winced slightly, and Delia smiled.

"That wasn't meant to mean you did something wrong, Ash," she assured him. "It's more the opposite. I want you to feel comfortable telling me about things like this."

"Right," Ash said, doing his best to feel confident about what he was saying because that was the first step in sounding confident.

He wasn't sure he was doing very well.

"Ash," his mom said, gently. "Do you think you're the only person who's ever had to deal with an awkward family situation?"

"I guess not," Ash admitted. "I just… I don't know? I never think of things like asking them to visit you until later, and then it feels like I'd be telling you something went wrong."

"I understand why you might feel that way, but that's not how you should think about it," Delia said. "Instead…"

She was silent for a long moment, as she marshalled her thoughts.

"Ash, baby, you'd have to do a lot worse than you've ever done to make me upset about that," she said. "I know I get mad when you're in dangerous places, and – and I think that's still right, even if I know it's not your fault, and even if it's something you have to do."

Ash felt a bit offended, and Delia held up her hand.

"I'm not doing very well at this," she apologized. "I mean more that… my reacting like that is because I'm mad at the situation. At how you're in danger, Ash… not at you. I'd only… it'd only make sense for me to be mad at you if you went into a dangerous place even though someone else could do it better, and I guess I'm still not fully used to who my son's father is…"

"Are you okay, mom?" Ash asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm – don't worry," Delia told him. "You're not the only one having trouble deciding what to say."

The idea of his mom having trouble with that was a bit of a hard one for Ash to think about.

"I thought I'd done all my coming to terms with it, but it looks like I haven't," Delia said. "But Ash… remember this, okay?"

She nodded to him. "I want to know about things like this. And – and if I do get upset with you, then I'm sorry, because I shouldn't. It's your life, and… you've done so well, Ash, I'm so proud of you, it hurts."

"Mom-" Ash began, but Delia kept going.

"Koraidon and Miraidon and Mew are so sweet and – I know it's early for me to have grandchildren, but, they're part of it, and, and nothing you've done has ever disappointed me, Ash."

Ash blinked.

"Really?" he said. "Not even when I overslept by hours and went to get my starter Pokémon in my pyjamas?"

There was a sort of strangled noise, as Latias stuffed her paw into her mouth to avoid interrupting the moment.

"That's not what I mean, Ash," his mom said, but she was smiling now, and she dashed tears out of her eyes. "I mean – nothing important about you. You're a good person, brave and kind and… and I'm so lucky to have you."

Ash nodded, slowly.

"...so, uh," he began. "Maybe I should tell you about how Miraidon's been doing recently?"

"I'd love that," Delia said. "Anything you can tell me."

AN:

It's easy for someone like Ash to get in the habit of not telling his mother about weird things, because otherwise he'd never be off the phone to her.