Mother

Delia Ketchum stood patiently in the supermarket line, her beloved Mimey chattering happily beside her.

"Mime, mime, Mr. Mime!"

"I love grocery shopping too, Mimey!" Delia giggled. She examined the contents of her cart. Delia thought it would be just enough. However, some would consider her twelve bell peppers, six cucumbers, eight onions, seventeen heads of lettuce, and fifteen tomatoes an industrial amount of vegetables, but those people obviously didn't see the twenty-four packages of chicken thighs and thirty-two steaks under all of the vegetables.

And she still hadn't counted the fruits.

"Mime?" A confused cry from her companion brought her out of her reverie.

"What is it, Mimey?"

"Mr. Mime!" The clown Pokémon pointed at the magazine rack next to them.

Glancing at the customers in front of her, Delia figured she wouldn't hold up the line at all if she turned her attention to the magazines her friend so adamantly pointed out. Turning her head in the direction of Mr. Mime's finger, she spotted the object of his attention and gasped immediately. Delia's eyes landed on a tabloid, The Regional Inquisitor, which held her beloved son and daughter-in-law in a most compromising position on the front page.

Misty Ketchum stood on the green outskirts of Cerulean Park, one hand over her stomach, head thrown back from laughter. The redhead's mane blew in the wind, her slim body donning denim skinny jeans, a fitted white T-shirt with a purple Starmie printed on the front, and a blue cardigan. Ash Ketchum, clad in a simple pair of black jeans and a light blue hoodie was on the grass in front of her, standing on his knees with his ear pressed against her stomach, also laughing. It was apparent that the couple was enjoying a casual day off.

The way they're paying attention to Misty's stomach... Could it be?!

Noticing the line in front of her moving forward, Delia snatched the paper, adding it to her cart and promising herself to examine it more closely once she reached her car.

Once she and Mr. Mime finally paid for all the groceries and made it into the car, Delia retrieved the singular object of her thoughts from the back seat and read the boldfaced header.

"YOUNG LOVE, YOUNG LOVE CHILD? IS THE POKEMON MASTER'S WIFE PREGNANT? LET'S FIND OUT!"

The still-young mother felt her heart beat wildly. She moved her eyes downward to the photo, taking up the entire page. Ash was, like she saw before, kneeling down and pressing his ear against Misty's stomach. Misty still had her hand just above his ear, pressed against her taut stomach. Delia hadn't expected the picture to change in the time from when she originally saw it to when she looked at it more closely, but she still couldn't believe her eyes. But her son and daughter-in-law's body language were just too obvious to ignore.

Misty was pregnant.

"And no one even told me!" Delia cried abruptly to the pages in her lap. Mr. Mime sat in the passenger seat, watching his master intently.

"Mime?"

"We're going home and unloading these groceries, Mimey. And then I'm going to get to the bottom of this! Would you mind putting them all away when we get home? I have to go visit Ash and Misty."

Her Pokémon friend energetically cried his compliance. Delia smiled sweetly at him before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

Those kids don't know who they're messing with, not telling me of all people.

"Never mess with an expecting grandmother," Delia muttered.

Mr. Mime agreed once again.

XXX

Ash Ketchum sat comfortably on the black leather couch in his and Misty's living room, television glowing, remote in his left hand, and his right stroking the hair of his loved one, who rested her head in his lap. Misty's loose locks strayed over her face as soft snores came out of her nostrils. Pikachu was curled in her arms, happily snoozing beside her.

The Pokémon Master returned his attention to the T.V. and clicked buttons on the remote until he finally found something he was satisfied with: one of his own battles.

Unfortunately for Ash, the doorbell rang as soon as the match started, interrupting Ash's bout of laziness. He carefully removed Misty's head from his lap, replacing his legs with a pillow. He walked over to the door, grumbling about people who interrupted hardworking Pokémon Masters on their days off. Finally reaching the front door, Ash swung it open only to have something thrown in his face.

"What is the meaning of this, young man?"

"Mom?" Ash sputtered from behind the object.

"Explain yourself right now, mister!" Delia demanded, still shoving the offending article in her son's face.

"Shh! You'll wake Misty! Now what are you so worked up about?" Ash whisper-yelled, grabbing the magazine from his mother's hand and revealing her very displeased face. Ash wracked his brain to try to figure out what he could have done to make his mom so mad. She never got mad like this.

Stepping aside to let his mother through the door, Ash shut it behind her and examined the paper for himself.

"'Love child'?" Ash exclaimed, his face turning white. "What the hell is this, Mom?"

"Language, Ash!"

"Mom, why are you so angry?" Ash said through gritted teeth. He glanced nervously at the back of the couch, silently praying someone was still asleep.

"So? " Delia shot back hotly. "And you know what, Mister-Not-Tell-Me-I'm-A-Grandma? I happen to like it!"

"Who's a grandma?" A sleepy voice asked from the living room.

Misty sat up from the couch to find her husband being stared down by her mother-in-law in the foyer.

"Oh, Misty, I'm so happy for you!" Misty, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, was tackled by Delia, receiving probably the tightest hug she'd ever gotten.

She tentatively hugged Delia back, looking over her shoulder to mouth to her husband, "What is happening?"

Ash looked just as confused as she felt.

"I think she thinks you're pregnant," he silently responded. This woke Misty up instantly.

The gym leader carefully pulled herself away from Delia, looking into her teary brown eyes and bright smile. Finally extracting herself, Misty gained the courage to open her mouth.

"Um, Delia... What's going on?"

"Oh, you don't have to pretend!" Delia slapped her shoulder in a manner that Misty assumed was meant to be light, but actually caused a small amount of pain. "Although I'm a little hurt that you and Ash-" she paused to turn around and glare at her son- "didn't tell me. But it's okay, because I'm finally going to have grandbabies!"

Misty, who never remembered feeling this confused before, took what appeared to be a magazine from her approaching husband's grasp, scratching her head thoughtfully through her tussled hair. Misty's eyes widened when she read the headline.

"Oh, this is such an adorable picture of you two!" Delia squealed, clasping her hands together in delight. "But soon there will be three of you!"

The woman missed the look shared between the young lovers, as her eyes were closed, blissfully imagining all the different baby combinations that her son and daughter-in-law could have possibly made.

Misty caught her husband's now-smiling eyes as they both seemed to realize the same thing before bursting into unexpected laughter. Delia opened her eyes at the harmonic noise, now finding it was her turn to be confused.

"Wh—what's so funny?"

"Mom," Ash wheezed, gasping for breath, "These tabloids are full of it!"

"B—but, the picture! You're listening to Misty's stomach! You're listening for a baby!"

"Mom," he giggled again, "I'm listening to Misty's stomach growl. She was hungry."

Delia's eyes went wide and she felt her heart plunge to her stomach. She turned to Misty desperately.

"So, you're...you're not...?"

Misty's giggles died down enough to give her mother-in-law a sympathetic look.

"Sorry, Delia. The paparazzi made all that up."

"Now, Mom," Ash interjected, placing a warm hand on his mother's shoulder, "We've told you that you can't listen to these silly tabloids. Everything they say is a lie," Ash declared firmly to his mother, whose head hung desolately.

"We were walking through the park yesterday and I was so hungry that my stomach was roaring and Ash leaned down to listen to it. And that's when the reporters must have snapped the picture. We're sorry for disappointing you, really!" Misty took Delia in her arms, removing Ash's hand in the process. The brunette sighed deeply while Misty stroked her few eternally messy, stray locks. "And I promise, you're the first I'd tell. Maybe even first before Ash," Misty whispered into her mother-in-law's ear, just loud enough for only them to hear. She felt Delia smile into her shoulder.

Half an hour later, after clearing up the pregnancy caper and sitting down for a cup of coffee, Delia said her goodbyes to Ash and Misty and made her way out the door, thus returning to her home in Pallet Town for an evening that would be well-spent in the garden.

As soon as Ash shut the door behind his mother, he turned around to find Misty, winking devilishly at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smirked.

"Want to go practice this baby-making business?" Ash nodded and returned her wink. Misty leaned up and whispered into her husband's ear. "You know, you are looking very kissable right now. I wanna eat you up"

"We'll see about that," Ash whispered back