Sorry, I fell off the face of the Earth again! My works hours are pretty rough, so I don't have much free time. But it's been about a month since I last updated, so I wanted to make sure I got something up! This one is nice and long to make up for the delay.
Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old
Brock and Roll
"Do you guys know who's coming to stay with you tonight?"
Michelle looked up from her stuffed Pokémon and sheepishly shook her head. She had already been warned her parents were going away for the night, and she was not okay with it. Aiden, on the other hand, was not nearly as bothered by the situation, and beamed at his father.
"Grammy!" Aiden cried, rolling a stuffed poke ball back towards his father.
"No, not Grammy," Ash chuckled, stopping the ball with his fingers. "Someone else you know really well and who loves you two a whole lot!"
Aiden pursed his lips and thought about it for a second before grinning. "Brock!"
Ash chuckled at his son's exuberance. "Yeah, you got it right! You're so smart, champ!"
The boy bounced up and down with excitement, giggling simultaneously. "Where's he?"
"He'll be here soon," Ash promised. "In fact, why don't you two keep an eye out for him? I've got to go talk to Mommy for a little bit."
"Okay!" Aiden jumped to his feet and rushed over to Michelle, pulling at her arm. "Come on, Shelly!"
"Nooo!" Michelle shrieked, shaking her arm away from him.
"Hey, no yelling," Ash hushed. "Michelle, I know you're upset about Mommy and I going away, but it's only for one night! We'll be back before you know it. And in the meantime, you're going to have so much fun with Brock! He always has lots of fun things planned for you guys, doesn't he?"
Michelle remained silent, but eventually (and quite stubbornly) nodded her head.
"Good," Ash sighed, getting to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aiden grab at his sister's arm again, but this time more gently than the first. Michelle still seemed apprehensive, but finally stood up and allowed her brother to drag her towards the couch that was situated beneath the house's front window. With that, Ash smiled to himself and walked calmly into the kitchen, not trying to distract the twins from their newfound activity.
In the kitchen he found his wife, who was sitting at the table and finishing up some last-minute paperwork. They had a league function up at Indigo Plateau, but it was going to run late into the night, and they had both agreed it would be easier to stay at the hotel up there for the evening and return home the next day. Both were admittedly a little nervous, as they weren't used to leaving the twins for a whole night. That was also why they had thought it would be best for someone to come and stay with the twins at home in their absence; it would ultimately cause less disruption to the kids' routine and, hopefully, less meltdowns. Pikachu and Vaporeon would be staying back as well, hoping that they could bring an extra sense of comfort to the children.
Besides, neither one really wanted to be with Ash and Misty in a hotel room alone.
"How's it going?" Ash asked, although he knew full well what the answer was going to be.
"It sucks," Misty stated bluntly, not looking up from the forms.
"That stuff usually does," Ash agreed, nodding his head.
Misty suddenly stopped writing and slowly glanced up, one of her eyebrows raised. "Did I hear Michelle screaming before?"
"Uh…yeah," Ash admitted, letting out a puff of air as he began to re-organize his own stack of paperwork, which had turned into a disheveled mess somewhere along the line.
"Is everything okay?" Misty continued after Ash said nothing else.
"She's fine!" Ash assured his bewildered wife. "Aiden was just trying to get her to do something she didn't want to do, that's all. She's been really on edge since we told her about tonight."
"I know, and I feel awful about it," Misty groaned, rubbing the heels of her palms against her eyes. "But we don't have much of a choice. It would be way too much to make a round trip with how late this stupid event is going to go. I just wish there was a way you could communicate that to a three-year-old."
"A clingy three-year-old," Ash added, stuffing his papers into a large envelope after finally organizing them.
"She's gotten better about certain things, but us leaving is not one of them," Misty sighed, lowering her hands. "I'm hoping once Brock gets here, she'll be more comfortable and forget all about it."
"Well, talking about Brock coming doesn't seem to do anything for her," Ash muttered, shaking his head. "Maybe it'll be different when she actually sees him."
"Brock's here! Brock's here!"
Aiden's squeaky cries brought Ash's attention to the doorway, while Misty just smirked and raised her eyebrows.
"Speak of the devil," she murmured, pushing her chair away from the table.
Misty walked into the living room and found Aiden standing by the front door, reaching up to try and grab the handle. Michelle was standing a few feet away, clutching her stuffed Vaporeon to her chest and staring at her brother like he'd gone mad.
"Okay, step away from the door, little guy," Misty teased. "We don't need you trying to open that!"
"But I wanna," Aiden muttered, although he took a big step to the side in order to get out of his mother's way.
"I know you do, which makes you more determined to learn how," Misty sighed, unlocking the door herself and pulling it open. "But I can't let you do that!"
"Why?" Aiden chirped.
"Because it's dangerous," Misty replied, poking her head out to see Brock just getting out of his car.
"Why?" Aiden repeated.
"Because you might not always know who's at the door," Misty explained.
"But they might be a new friend!" Aiden cried.
"They could," Misty hesitantly agreed. "But they could also not be. They could be a bad person. So you have to be careful."
Aiden still didn't seem thrilled with that explanation, but he ceased his questioning and instead inched closer to the door once again in order to peer outside. Brock was finally approaching the house, a backpack slung over his left shoulder. As soon as he saw Aiden's big brown eyes peering up at him, the Pokémon doctor chuckled and ever so slightly picked up his pace.
"Hey there, buddy!" Brock crooned, bending down to pick the boy up. "Are you excited for our sleepover tonight?"
"Ya!" Aiden giggled.
Brock glanced down and saw Michelle sheepishly staring up at him, hugging her stuffed Vaporeon to her chest.
"Shelly, I love your Vaporeon!" Brock complimented. "It's just like your mommy's!"
That got Michelle to light up, much to her parents' relief. Brock too smiled at this before kneeling to place Aiden on the floor and holding his arms out towards the little girl. "Come here, sweetheart!"
Michelle giggled softly and walked forward slowly, eventually finding her way to Brock and allowing him to hug her. It took a second, but Michelle eventually hugged him back, causing Brock's grin to widen. Almost as quickly, however, she pulled away and took a big step back so she was standing side-by-side with her brother, although she punctuated it with a cheeky smirk directed at her godfather.
"I'm always so happy to see you both," Brock chuckled. "And we're going to have a blast tonight! We can do whatever you guys want!"
"Within reason," Misty butted in, carefully eyeing Brock.
"Yeah, sure," Brock agreed with a weak smile before looking back at the twins and pulling an exasperated face as he shook his head, much to their delight.
Misty sighed and ran a hand down her face, groaning, "Ash has rubbed off on you way too much."
"No way," Brock refuted, standing back up and facing Misty. "I just love those two and want to spoil them like crazy!"
"Right, so…like Ash," Misty drawled, crossing her arms.
Furrowing his brow, Brock turned towards Ash and asked, "am I married to her or you?"
"You might as well both be," Misty replied teasingly, not even giving Ash a moment to think about an answer.
"Don't listen to her," Ash chuckled awkwardly. "She says the same thing to Lance!"
Brock snickered and glanced over his shoulder at Misty. "Just as mischievous as ever, I see."
"Who, me?" Misty asked sarcastically, batting her eyelashes. "Never!"
Having heard enough of the adults' conversation, Aiden charged forward again and tugged at Brock's pants. "Are you makin' us dinner?"
"I am!" Brock confirmed. "How does spaghetti and meatballs sound?"
Aiden's face lit up almost instantly. "Ya! That's my favoritest!"
Brock chuckled, knowing Aiden would've likely said that about almost any dinner option. "Great, I'm glad! What about you, Michelle? Do you like spaghetti and meatballs?"
Michelle timidly nodded her head before sharply turning around and grabbing at her father's hand. Ash looked down and smiled at the little girl, who quickly returned his expression. "What's up, baby girl?"
"You eat wif us!" Michelle declared.
Ash's face faltered a bit. "No, sweetie, I can't! Mommy and I have very important work to go do. But you, Aiden, and Brock are going to have so much fun together! And that starts with dinner! You have to eat good so you have enough energy to have all that fun."
Michelle's mood instantly transitioned into disappointment, which was more than obvious to everyone in the room.
"Shelly, why don't you come with Mommy?" Misty asked, swooping in to lift the pouty toddler into her arms. "I have to finish packing my bag, and I'd love your help! How does that sound?"
Although she was still frowning, Michelle nodded her head once more. Misty smiled and walked off with the child, heading up the stairs and leaving the males behind.
"I really thought Michelle was starting to get comfortable with me," Brock chuckled nervously.
"She is!" Ash hurriedly assured him. "The problem is that Misty and I are leaving, not that you're here. If you were coming here to hang out with all of us, she'd be super excited and probably start talking up a storm after a while! But right now, she's just upset that we're going somewhere without her."
"She gets scared," Aiden squeaked, his lips bending into a frown. "She needs Mommy and Daddy."
"Well, she also needs you!" Ash added, grinning at Aiden. "You know that Shelly can get scared without you too, buddy."
"Ya, I pa-tect her!" Aiden cried, returning to his cheerful disposition.
"That makes you a great brother!" Brock crowed.
"Uh huh," Aiden agreed, becoming distracted as he peered around Brock and into the kitchen. The Pokémon doctor was quick to take notice of this, and it led him to smirk.
"I'm going to guess you're hungry, huh, little guy?" Brock asked.
Aiden instantly snapped back to attention and rapidly nodded his head.
"Well, might as well start cooking then," Brock decided. "I don't want to have my sweet godson go hungry!"
"I wanna help!" Aiden cried, throwing his hand up.
"Nah, he wants to eat the ingredients while you cook," Ash chuckled.
"Same thing," Aiden muttered, causing his father to laugh louder.
"Hey, I'll take all of the help I can get!" Brock cheerfully replied. "Let's go see what we can do, bud!"
XXX
The pout hadn't left Michelle's face from the moment her mother had scooped her up. The little girl was now sitting on her parents' bed, still looking just as upset as she had downstairs. Misty had busied herself with throwing things into an overnight bag, but continually looked up at Michelle in order to check on her. Finally, as she was folding a shirt for the next morning, Misty decided to speak up.
"You know, Daddy and I don't like leaving you and your brother either," Misty sweetly reminded her daughter, who raised a curious eyebrow in response. "It's very hard for us! We love you both so much, and we hate to miss any time with you guys. But when you're a grownup, you have to do this kind of stuff."
"Why?" Michelle squeaked, her voice so soft it was barely audible.
"So that we can live in this nice house and do fun things…and I can buy food for all of us, but especially your brotherand your daddy," Misty sighed, smirking at the girl. "Could you imagine if I couldn't afford to feed them? They would've moved in with Brock already!"
Michelle started to giggle profusely at the idea, causing her mother's grin to widen. "Dat's silly, Mommy!"
"It is, but I kind of think it's true," Misty laughed. "Those two would eat all day if we let them, huh?"
Michelle continued giggling as she nodded her head.
"But I want you to be good for Brock," Misty continued, now adopting a more serious expression. "He's so excited to spend the night here with you and Aiden! And you know he loves you just like me and Daddy do. Can you try and be a big girl for me tonight?"
It about broke Misty's heart when her daughter stopped giggling and smiling, and suddenly looked miserable again. Nevertheless, Michelle slowly nodded her head, and murmured, "Kay."
Misty leaned forward and kissed her daughter's forehead. "That's my seashell!"
Michelle appeared confused for a moment, but then laughed and crawled up to her mother, attaching herself to her side. Misty hummed delightedly and ran her hand down the back of Michelle's head.
"My bag is all set, so I'm going to bring it downstairs and get ready to go," Misty calmly informed the girl. "Do you want to come with me and see what Brock and Aiden are up to?"
Michelle groaned a little before glancing up at Misty and nodding her head.
"Good!" Misty cheered, slinging her bag over one shoulder before picking Michelle up and carrying her back down the stairs. It was there where they found Brock and Aiden busy in the kitchen, and Ash standing in the doorway with his backpack strapped on.
"You shoved everything you need into a backpack?" Misty droned.
Ash glanced over his shoulder at the bag and shrugged. "Yeah! Worked on the road for months at a time, why not one night in a hotel?"
Misty opened her mouth to argue, but quickly closed it and groaned. "I hate it when you're right."
Ash chuckled and winked at her before turning into the kitchen. "Alright, guys! We're heading out!"
Aiden, who had been standing on a chair pulled up against the counter, hopped down and charged towards his father, headbutting his legs before jumping back and frantically waving at him. "Bye, Daddy!"
Ash grimaced and remarked, "there's gotta be a happy medium between the way you react when we leave and the way your sister reacts when we leave…"
Misty smirked and gave Michelle a kiss before placing her on the floor. She then knelt down to do the same to Aiden, who groaned in response.
"Daddy and I will be back tomorrow," Misty assured the two. "Behave for Brock, okay?"
The children mumbled in agreement. Ash chuckled and reached down to ruffle the hair of both kids.
"We know you will," he added. "Pikachu and Vaporeon are going to make sure of it! Right, guys?"
Pikachu squeaked and saluted his trainer, while Vaporeon mewled and slowly swished her tail from side-to-side. After one more round of farewells, the couple was on their way, leaving the twins and Pokémon back in the house with Brock.
"Well guys, dinner should be just about done!" He announced, figuring that eating would be a good way to get the kids started without their parents. "Why don't we head on into the kitchen so I can get Pikachu and Vaporeon's meals ready too?"
"I wanna help!" Aiden repeated.
"Sure thing," Brock chuckled. "Michelle, would you like to help too?"
The little girl didn't answer; she was too busy staring desolately over her shoulder at the closed front door.
Oh man, Brock groaned inwardly. This is going to be a long night.
Aiden, however, seemed to be in tune with his sister's feelings and strode forward, gently grabbing her hand and gaining her attention.
"C'mon, Shelly!" He urged. "Let's help!"
Although she still seemed wary, Michelle nodded and allowed her brother to lead her into the kitchen. Brock was surprised but chose to keep that to himself. Without saying a thing, he and the Pokémon followed after the twins and began on their missions.
While Brock finished up dinner for him and the twins, Aiden and Michelle prepared Pikachu and Vaporeon's meals. Brock had given them each an open can of Pokémon food and instructed them to pour the morsels into two bowls.
"Are you guys hungry?" Aiden squeaked, glancing down at Pikachu and Vaporeon. The Pokémon affirmed they were in their own languages, causing Aiden to laugh. "Okay! It's a-most ready!"
Having just finished taste testing one of the noodles, Brock chuckled to himself. Aiden was such a mini-Ash, in both appearance and personality. It never failed to amuse Brock, although he knew the little boy didn't understand that; he just took it as the ultimate compliment to be compared to his father, who he absolutely adored.
As Aiden and Michelle placed the bowls full of Pokémon food on the floor, Brock carried the pot of fully cooked pasta over to the sink in order to drain the water. Once that was out of the way, Brock looked over his shoulder and called, "are Pikachu and Vaporeon all set with their dinner?"
"Uh huh!" Aiden chirped. "Me an- Shelly did a really good job!"
"I bet you did!" Brock agreed. "Our dinner is nearly ready as well, so why don't you two sit down at the table? I'll be over with the spaghetti in a flash!"
Aiden and Michelle scurried over to the table, pulling out their chairs and taking their seats.
"That was lightning fast!" Brock chuckled, amazed by the twins' speed. "You two must be starving!"
"I'm always hung-y!" Aiden chirped.
Brock smirked before turning his attention onto the young girl sitting beside her brother. "What about you, Shelly? Are you always hungry, too?"
Michelle frowned and shook her head, but said nothing else. Smiling sympathetically, Brock faced the counter again and picked up two child sized bowls full of spaghetti and meatballs. As soon as they were put down, Aiden dove into his, not even bothering to use his fork.
"Eww!" Michelle whined before giggling relentlessly.
Brock, meanwhile, could only sigh. "Aiden, buddy, do you have to eat with your hands like that?"
"-eah!" Aiden replied, his answer muffled thanks to all the spaghetti stuffed in his mouth.
Michelle was still laughing amusedly, and Brock shifted his eyes back towards her. "Your brother sure is silly, huh?"
Michelle smirked and nodded before daintily starting her own dinner, using a fork unlike her brother. Aiden was not very impressed by this, however, and challenged, "C'mon, Shelly, eat it like me!"
Brock made a noise of discouragement. "Aiden, you shouldn't even be eating like that! Don't encourage your sister to do it too."
Fortunately for him, the little girl whined and shook her head. "Nuh uh, I don't eat like dat."
Grinning, Brock crowed, "atta girl!"
Michelle smiled sheepishly at the Pokémon Doctor before returning to her spaghetti. Aiden, on the other hand, simply shrugged and went back to stuffing a meatball in his mouth with reckless abandon.
XXX
Once bedtime for the twins rolled around, Brock was battling between a sense of relief and a sense of guilt.
The relief was because, obviously, it would be easier to not worry about Michelle once she was asleep. The guilt was because he still felt bad that there was seemingly nothing he could do to make her feel better.
Just as he'd been with most everything else all evening (with the exception of getting him to eat with a utensil), Aiden was easy to get into bed. Brock had been expecting a little bit of a fight at the very least, as Aiden usually liked to keep playing, but he hopped right in with no hesitation, even going so far as to tuck himself in.
"You are such a big boy!" Brock gasped. "Putting yourself in bed like that."
"I'm a grown up," Aiden declared, glancing up at his godfather.
"Like your daddy?" Brock asked expectantly.
Aiden grinned and rapidly nodded his head.
Brock smiled too but couldn't help the curiosity that was nagging at him. "You miss your mommy and daddy when they're gone?"
"Uh huh," Aiden admitted more quickly than Brock was expecting. "But not like Shelly! She gets really sad."
"She does," Brock sighed. "I see you try and make her feel better. That's very nice of you, Aiden! It shows that you're a very good brother."
"I pa-tect her!" Aiden cried, repeating the same mantra from earlier in the day.
"You sure do," Brock agreed. "Well, thanks for hanging out with me today buddy! Did you have fun?"
Aiden smiled and nodded his head, far more calmly than before. Brock chuckled and leaned forward to kiss the boy's head. "Sleep tight! I'll see you in the morning."
"Nigh-" Aiden murmured before snuggling more deeply into covers. Vaporeon, who'd been carefully watching the two, jumped to her feet as soon as Brock had turned his back and leapt onto the foot of Aiden's bed, pawing at the blankets before curling up into a ball and closing her own eyes.
Brock, meanwhile, walked out of the room and effortlessly closed the door before walking into the next room directly across the hall. Michelle was in her bed, but unlike her brother, she was sitting up, staring expectantly at the newly arrived Brock.
"You ready for bed, sweetie?" Brock asked kindly.
Michelle frowned and shook her head.
"No?" Brock gasped. "How come?"
"Where's Daddy's Pokémon?" Michelle squeaked, tilting her head.
"His Pokémon?" Brock repeated, a hint of confusion in his voice. Michelle nodded, and Brock continued, "oh…I think most of them are at Professor Oak's lab! You go there to play with them, right?"
Michelle nodded again. "But…not Charizard! He lives wif Liza."
"Yes, he does, in the Charicific Valley," Brock confirmed.
"And not Squirtle neifer," Michelle added.
"Right, he's a fire fighter with the Squirtle Squad!" Brock chuckled. "That sure is cool, huh?"
"Uh huh," Michelle murmured.
Brock smiled and gently pushed Michelle down so she was lying back. His face changed, however, when he noticed something moving under Michelle's covers by her side. He wasn't sure whether or not to alert the girl to it, for fear of startling her or making the bedtime situation worse, but felt a wave of relief wash over him when a familiar Pokémon popped his head out from under the covers.
"Pikachu," Brock sighed, hanging his head. "What're you doing under there?"
"Pi-ka, pikachu Pipikachu!" The electric type chattered.
Michelle giggled and turned towards the mouse. "Pikachu stays here wif me!"
"Chu!" Pikachu agreed, twitching his ears.
"He scared me," Brock admitted with a short laugh.
Michelle blinked. "You thought Pikachu was a monster?"
Brock faltered a bit. "Oh, uh…no! Of course not! I just…didn't know what it was, that's all! There's no such thing as monsters, you silly little girl!"
He hadn't wanted Michelle to worry about such things, but it appeared that wasn't a problem, as she smiled immediately after. "I know! He stays here! He's silly sometimes. But not like Rowlet! He's the silliest! Know why?"
Now Brock was completely frozen. Michelle had barely spoken to him all night, and suddenly she seemed to want to have a full-blown conversation. He was pretty good at figuring the kids out, but this was a new one. What confused him even more was Pikachu seemed to be shooting him a sympathetic look…and Brock had absolutely no idea what it meant.
"Brock, wanna know why?"
The Pokémon Doctor snapped out of his trance and glanced down at Michelle. She was still staring up at him with wide eyes, unaffected by his previous stupor.
"Yeah, in just a minute, okay, sweetheart?" Brock rushed out, patting her head as he got to his feet. "I'll be right back."
Michelle watched as her godfather left the room and took a step to the right so she could no longer see him behind the wall. As soon as he was out of sight, Brock took his cell phone out of his pocket and selected a contact, holding it up to his ear as it began to ring. Fortunately for him, the receiving party answered very quickly.
"Brock?" Ash's voice patched through, sounding nearly breathless.
"Hey," Brock breathed.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Brock hurriedly replied, running his hand through his hair. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just…I'm trying to get the twins into bed. Aiden's in, he's good, but Michelle- "
"She's carrying on?" Ash interrupted.
"Well, not really," Brock sighed. "She's not crying or fussing or anything like that. It's just that she won't stop talking to me! Seriously, she's been literally silent all night, and now all of a sudden, she's going a mile a minute."
There was a beat of silence on the other end before Ash burst into laughter, leading Brock to raise an eyebrow.
"Do I want to know why that's so funny?" He asked with a hint of concern.
"Michelle does that all the time," Ash chuckled. "She assumes if she keeps talking to you, you won't leave her room! She hates being alone, so it happens to me and Misty pretty much every night."
"That explains the look Pikachu was giving me," Brock muttered.
"Yeah, he's used to it," Ash laughed. "It's not ideal. You do have to admit it's pretty cute, though."
"It is, but I don't think I should be staying in there, should I?" Brock murmured. "Isn't that just going to make it harder for her to go to sleep?"
"Nah, she'll talk herself to the point of exhaustion eventually," Ash refuted. "Once that happens, it's safe to leave the room. Until then, you don't mind hanging out with her a little while longer, do you?"
Brock smirked. He could tell there was a hint of concern in his best friend's voice. Ash was very confident, very happy-go-lucky, but he did worry quite a bit about his children when he was gone, although he tried his best not to show it. Brock knew better, however, and he was very sympathetic to that fact.
"Of course not," Brock assured him.
Ash let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thanks, Brocko! You're the best!"
"Don't mention it," Brock breathed. "You know I'd do anything for her and Aiden."
"I do," Ash replied, his voice somehow becoming even lighter. "That's why you're the best!"
Brock's smile widened before he bid Ash farewell and disconnected the call. As he slipped his phone back into his pocket, Brock walked back into Michelle's room, finding that the little girl was now sitting up in her bed once again, her small hands wringing the blankets.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Brock playfully apologized. Fortunately for him, Michelle smiled in response, her obvious anxiety disappearing. "Now, what were you telling me about Rowlet?"
"He s-eeps in a backpack," Michelle squeaked, quickly dissolving into giggles.
"Oh, that's so silly of him!" Brock crowed.
"Uh huh!" Michelle agreed. "And he'll s-eep whenever he wants to! Not only at bedtime!"
"Well, that's even sillier!" Brock chuckled.
"Daddy said he always did dat," Michelle continued. "When they met he did it! He's silly like Psyduck!"
"Psyduck's still silly too?" Brock asked, causing Michelle to nod. "He was always silly when I traveled around with your mommy and daddy; sometimes a little too silly. He could get himself into some big trouble!"
"He did?" Michelle chirped, making it Brock's turn to nod. "Tell me!"
Brock hummed and rubbed his chin. "There are so many stories, I'm not even sure where to start! Let's see…oh! I've got a good one! There was one time where Psyduck wound up in a real movie, and- "
"A movie?!" Michelle gasped, inadvertently cutting Brock off. "I wanna hear that story, Brock!"
Chuckling sheepishly, Brock responded, "you've got it! That one…well, it all started when your mommy, daddy, and I ran into a movie producer who was looking for Pokémon to star in his new movie…"
The Pokémon doctor regaled his young goddaughter with the delightful tale, her eyes sparkling as he went through every detail of what the Pokémon's audition process was, how Psyduck was selected for the movie, what happened when they began filming it, and beyond. As Brock got deeper into the story, however, Michelle's eyelids began to flutter. It was only when the man completed the tale that he realized Michelle had sunk into her pillow and fallen fast asleep.
With a smile on his face, Brock shook his head and whispered, "your daddy sure does know you, doesn't he?"
As delicately as he possibly could, Brock pulled Michelle's sheets up to her neck and leaned over to kiss her temple. Getting to his feet, he threw the child one last look before walking out and quietly closing the door behind him. With that accomplished, Brock sighed and leaned against the white slab of wood, his own exhaustion overtaking him.
"I was gonna watch TV once the kids went to bed…but now I think I'm just gonna go to bed myself."
XXX
"Wake up! Wake up!"
Brock was jolted awake by someone jumping on top of him. It took a second for his eyes to adjust, but once they did, he was surprised to find Michelle hovering over him, her bright red hair curtaining his face.
"Shelly?" Brock asked groggily.
Michelle giggled and leaned in closer to the Pokémon doctor. "Hi!"
Smiling, Brock gently grabbed the girl by her sides and lifted her up over his head, causing her to shriek with laughter.
"Someone sure is happy this morning!" Brock cooed, sitting up and placing Michelle beside him. "Did you sleep well?"
The little girl nodded and rubbed her eyes.
"Glad to hear it," Brock chuckled.
"Now I'm hungry," Michelle squeaked.
Brock smirked. "Just like your daddy! Do you think Aiden is hungry too?"
Once again, Michelle silently nodded her head.
"Okay, let's go get him and then we can go downstairs and start making breakfast!" Brock decided. "You want to lead the way?"
"Ya!" Michelle squealed, practically flying off the bed. "I'ma wake up Aiden!"
Brock watched the little girl charge out of the room, his smile somehow widening even more. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed that happy, squeaky little voice of hers.
XXX
"I found you, Pikachu!"
"Pi!"
Michelle giggled wildly as Pikachu darted out from behind the living room couch, skirting right past her feet. Spinning on her heels, Michelle beamed at the mouse and cried, "help me find Aiden and Vaporeon!"
"Pi-ka!"
Brock, who had been the first one out in the group's latest round of hide-and-go-seek, chuckled to himself as he watched the girl and Pokémon scurry off in search of the two who were still in hiding. The outgoing mood Michelle had woken up in had yet to diminish, and for that Brock was grateful. It warmed his heart to see his young goddaughter so happy, which hadn't been the case the night before.
He was so lost in his thoughts, in fact, that he failed to hear the car pulling up to the house, and only turned his head when the front door creaked open. Glancing over his shoulder, Brock locked eyes with Ash and Misty, and instantly smiled at the two.
"Hey, guys!" Brock greeted. "How was your league event?"
"Mind numbingly boring," Misty droned.
"The rest of the night was pretty good though," Ash remarked, wiggling his eyebrows. Misty, in turn, sighed and gently smacked his shoulder.
"I should really get you a muzzle," she quipped.
Ash winked at Brock before looking around the room. "Where are the kids? And the Pokémon?"
"Playing hide-and-go-seek," Brock replied.
"Aw, you didn't want to play with them?" Misty asked.
"I was," Brock sighed. "I got found first."
"First?" Ash scoffed. "You're off your game, Brocko. I happen to be a hide-and-go-seek champion! The twins can never find me."
"That's because you hide in places where they couldn't possibly find you," Misty reminded her husband as she crossed her arms.
"I do not!" Ash challenged
Misty shot him an exasperated look. "One time you crawled out a window and onto the roof."
"Yeah, and that was brilliant," Ash stressed.
"They're three years old!" Misty cried. "Did you really expect them to find you there?"
"No, which is exactly why I did it," Ash replied as though it were obvious.
Misty groaned and shook her head. "Anyway…did they behave for you?"
"Of course!" Brock assured her. "Aiden was really great the whole time. He did everything I asked, and he was so helpful! Michelle behaved like an angel too, she was just very timid and quiet."
"Until last night?" Misty prodded.
"Yeah, the bedtime talk," Brock chuckled.
"I'm so sorry she did that to you," Misty sighed, running a hand down her face. "I keep telling Ash we should really try harder to curb that habit!"
"It's not that bad," Ash calmly argued. "She just wants some company, that's all! And it's not like it keeps her up all night. In fact, I think it helps her fall asleep!"
"Ash isn't totally wrong," Brock admitted. "I promise, Misty, it really wasn't any trouble! And Michelle did fall asleep not long after."
"You're sure?" Misty prodded.
"It was pretty obvious she was struggling with you guys gone," Brock continued. "I didn't want to make things worse. I tried all night to cheer her up, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn't until I sat in her room and talked with her that I saw her little face light up. And once she woke up this morning, she was like a totally different kid!"
As if on cue, Michelle came running into the room, shrieking with laughter. "We found Aiden! We found him!"
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu chimed in. As soon as he saw Ash and Misty, however, he darted towards them, jumping up into his trainer's arms.
"Hey there, Pikachu!" Ash greeted with a laugh. "Guess you missed us too, huh?"
"Pi!" Pikachu confirmed.
Misty smiled at the two before bending down to be at eye level with Michelle. "And there's my sweet little girl!"
Michelle giggled again as she jumped at her mother to give her a quick hug before spinning back around and instead attaching herself to Brock's legs. The Pokémon doctor appeared surprised, but Misty's smirk had only widened.
"Yep, she's officially out of her shell," Misty remarked.
"She doesn't even really care that we're standing here," Ash agreed, chuckling as he raised an eyebrow. "A big change from yesterday, huh?"
Michelle whipped around again, this time beaming at her father. Ash was pleased to have his daughter's attention and moved Pikachu to his shoulder so he could kneel down and hold his arms out towards Michelle. She ran right into them, giving him a hug before pulling away just as quickly as she had with Misty.
"Daddy!" Michelle cried. "Let's eat lunch wif Brock!"
"Oh, I don't know if Brock wants to keep hanging around," Ash kindly tried to dissuade her. "He just spent all night here with you and your brother! I bet he's got a bunch of other stuff to do!"
"No, Brock loves me!" Michelle argued. "He wants to!"
"Of course he loves you!" Ash quickly assured her. "But he's really busy, and-"
"It's no problem!" Brock interjected. "I'd love to stay, if it's alright with you and Misty. In fact, I'll even make lunch if you'd like!"
Misty let out a puff of air. "That's very sweet of you, Brock, but please don't feel pressured to stay just because Michelle wants you to."
"No, I insist!" Brock pressed. "We've all been having so much fun, I think we should keep it going!"
Michelle started giggling again and ran back up to Brock, rubbing her cheek against his knee. Brock smiled and lifted the child into his arms, giving her a kiss on the temple.
"As long as you're okay with it," Misty replied, her smile growing.
"Oh, I'm more than okay with it," Brock chuckled, gently tickling Michelle's sides and causing her to flail in all different directions as her giggles became wilder.
Ash stood back up and beamed at his wife. "I think it'll be a lot of fun to spend some time together! I'm not gonna lie – I'm a little jealous we missed out on all of it last night!"
"It definitely sounds like a lot more fun than what the league was making us sit through," Misty agreed with an impish smirk.
Aiden suddenly came running into the room, stopping in his tracks when he saw his parents. "Mommy! Daddy!"
"Hey, there's our little guy!" Ash chuckled. "We heard you were playing hide-and-go-seek. Were you kicking everyone's butt like you always do?"
Aiden laughed and nodded his head. "Ya!"
Misty giggled and reached down to pick Aiden up and hold him against her hip. "Brock is going to stay and have lunch with us. How does that sound, sweetheart?"
The boy's face lit up at the news. "Yay! Dat means we can keep playing!"
"You two don't want to give Brock a break, do you?" Misty asked, her giggling becoming more nervous.
"No," Aiden squeaked. "We're havin' fun!"
Overhearing this, Brock chuckled and nodded at Misty. "He's right. This is the most fun I've had in a long time! I sure don't need a break from any of this."
Michelle pulled herself upright and gently hugged Brock's neck, causing him to hug her back as both Ash and Misty smiled at him. "And I especially don't want to take a break from this!"
Michelle makes the best buddy - once you get her to open up to you, of course ;)
