Happy 2022! I've gotten a lot of requests for more Goh and Chloe, and I'm happy to deliver!
Aiden and Michelle: 3 months old
Babysitting: Goh and Chloe
"Aw, she's so cute!"
"Well, yeah. It's hard not to find a sleeping baby cute, especially since she's quiet."
Chloe glanced up from the carrier and narrowed her eyes. "Do you have to make it so obvious that the babies get on your nerves?"
Goh quickly became very serious and shot Chloe his own glare. "Hey, don't say that! I love Aiden and Michelle; they're both really important to me!"
Realizing she had overstepped and gotten a bit too gruff, Chloe pulled her shoulders back and softened her expression. "You're right. I'm sorry."
Goh offered her a kind smile. He and Chloe had argued enough since they were little that this was nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, they were just as quick to make up as they were to fight. Neither one ever held a grudge for very long (with each other, at least.) "It's fine. I probably should've worded that differently."
Chloe smiled herself, admitting, "and I shouldn't have automatically assumed you were being sarcastic," before turning her attention back to the infant. She and Goh had been tasked with watching the little girl while her parents took her fussy twin brother for a stroll around the Cerise laboratory in an attempt to calm him down. Michelle had been brought to them fast asleep and had yet to awaken from her slumber, although that wasn't a problem for either of her sitters.
"You do know why Ash and Misty left Michelle with us, don't you?" Goh asked, breaking up the comfortable silence.
Chloe inclined her head. "Because we were literally their only options?"
"No," Goh chuckled. "It's because they know they can trust her with us!"
For her part, Chloe was extremely skeptical. "What do you know about taking care of a baby?"
"Nothing," Goh admitted far more freely than Chloe had been expecting. He usually got super defensive whenever anyone questioned his knowledge base. Her surprise lessened, however, once he whipped out his Rotom Phone. "But that's why we have the internet!"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "You realize you can't rely on the internet for everything, right?"
"Sure, I can," Goh scoffed, turning the screen on. "After all, it's gotten me this far!"
"Well, we all know school didn't," Chloe muttered under her breath.
Goh arched an eyebrow. "You're still on that? Last I checked, skipping out on school as a kid didn't hurt me in the long run; I literally do research work with your dad."
"Yeah, key word: my dad," Chloe sighed. "Either way, the internet may be able to tell you the basics of taking care of a baby, but you're not taking into account that they're still individuals, not robots. Did you pay attention to anything Ash or Misty told you about Michelle?"
It was then that Goh's confident façade faltered a bit. But he quickly built himself back up and replied, "Of course I did! They said that she might wake up at some point, and she'll probably cry."
Chloe waited for more of an explanation, but it soon became evident to her that Goh wasn't about to elaborate. "That's it?"
"Yep!"
Chloe shook her head. "So, you didn't hear them say why she'd probably be crying?"
Goh bit his lip. "No, why would they tell me that? Michelle's a baby. Babies cry. Even I know that!"
"They said she'd probably cry because she's very attached to them," Chloe nearly recited, crossing her arms as she watched Goh's face pale. "And when she wakes up and sees they aren't there; she can get very worked up."
Goh sheepishly looked away from Chloe. "Alright…well…that's good to know."
"I'd say it's more than that," Chloe sniffed.
In reality, she had about as much experience dealing with babies as Goh did. The last time she'd really been around a baby all that much was with Parker, and not only had that been a long time ago, but she was also still a little kid herself at that point. It's not like she did very much with him outside of playing or helping her parents out. As a result, she knew it wasn't necessarily fair to give Goh pushback on his approach to infant care. What was fair, however, was to scold him for not paying attention. He'd always had a bad habit of doing that, and as much as she needled him over such a fact, he never seemed to learn his lesson. She had hoped being left responsible for his best friend's infant daughter might be a wakeup call for him, but apparently, not so much. He was still just as stubborn and overconfident as ever.
Goh had snapped his head back towards Chloe, and by the look on his face, she knew he was about to fire off some kind of insult in her direction. She was hardly affected by such a prospect and was more than ready to take anything he had to dish out. After all, she was perfectly capable of returning that kind of energy to her tenacious friend. But before he could get to it, both he and Chloe could see Michelle begin to stir out of the corners of their eyes, and that eliminated the tension between the two faster than a quick attack.
"Uh…oh…" Goh stammered, his body stiffening.
"Don't say anything," Chloe whispered desperately, hoping that if they remained as quiet as possible, Michelle might put herself back to sleep.
Unfortunately, they had no such luck, and Michelle's eyes fluttered open. She shifted them around, first looking at Goh, and then Chloe. She murmured softly, and the two adults standing over her both let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the baby was going to stay calm.
"Hello there," Chloe cooed, Michelle still staring at her. "Did you have a nice nap?"
Michelle responded by beginning to wail, Chloe and Goh's eyes widening as her cries grew louder and louder with each passing moment.
"Okay, I didn't know they could cry that loud!" Goh gasped, covering his ears.
"Are they supposed to?!" Chloe panicked. "Or is something wrong?!"
"No idea!" Goh shouted, not even realizing that Chloe had just outed herself as unknowledgeable as him in terms of babies. "But I'd be a lot more impressed by her power if my eardrums weren't about to explode!"
Biting her lower lip, Chloe reached into the carrier and pulled Michelle out, holding the little girl against her and gently bouncing the infant up and down. "Don't cry, Michelle! You're fine! Everything's fine!"
"Is it?!" Goh shrieked.
"I think so?!" Chloe hurriedly replied. "I mean, what could've happened? She's been asleep the whole time! No one yelled or scared her! Maybe she just misses Ash and Misty that much…"
Finally lowering his hands, Goh twisted his mouth and murmured, "I might have an idea…"
"I don't think it'd hurt to try anything at this point," Chloe groaned, now rocking the sobbing Michelle back and forth. "Because this sure isn't doing anything!"
Goh reached into his pocket, once again retrieving his Rotom Phone. He began to mess around with it, piquing Chloe's interest. When it started to take a little too long for her liking, and Michelle's desperate wails continued to reverberate through both the room and her head, Chloe began to assume that Goh was doing something to waste time and was fully prepared to snap at him.
"Got it!"
But then Goh let out that cheer, and Chloe swallowed her complaint. Pressing his screen one more time, Goh held his phone out towards the baby as a voice emanated through it.
"Hey Goh! It's Ash! Oh, well…I guess you already know that, heh. Anyways, Misty and I have the day off tomorrow, and I thought it might be fun if we stopped by Professor Cerise's lab with the twins! I know you've usually got a lot of work to do, but it never hurts to take it easy every once in a while, right? Oh, and also, I just came back from Galar for a battle tournament a few days ago, and guess what? I brought back a bunch of those tiny little tasty thingies! If that can't get you away from work, I know probably nothing will, which is why I'm totally willing to share them with you! So, just let me know! And if I don't answer the first time you call me back, you can yell at me. You know, like you usually do! Talk to ya soon!"
"He would leave a novel length voicemail," Chloe snickered. It soon occurred to her, however, that Michelle was a lot quieter than she'd been just moments ago. Glancing down, she found that although the baby still had tears streaming down her face and was whimpering softly, she had calmed down considerably. "Hey, look at that!"
"I figured that hearing Ash's voice might calm her down," Goh explained, stuffing his phone back in his pocket. "Guess I was right!"
Now that she was no longer screaming, Goh leaned in closer to Michelle. Although she was still quietly crying, she turned her head to look at him, which instantly brought a smile to the young man's face.
"You see? I can come up with some pretty good ideas!" Goh crooned. "Do you still think being left with me and Chloe is that bad?"
Michelle slowly began to calm down even further, causing Chloe's eyes to widen. "Whoa…Goh, she's really listening to you!"
"You think?" Goh asked, tilting his head.
"Well yeah, she was still crying until you started talking to her," Chloe pointed out.
"I'm not sure why," Goh admitted. "I didn't do anything different than you did! If anything, I did less; at least you're holding her."
"Do you want to hold her?" Chloe asked, the question a soft and genuine one.
"No, no, I'm good!" Goh refuted, waving his hands in front of him. "I'm absolutely not ready to hold a baby."
"Why not?" Chloe giggled gently. "She can't do anything; she's too little!"
"Yeah, that's why I'm not ready," Goh stressed. "I don't want to hurt her or anything like that!"
"You wouldn't hurt her," Chloe assured the flustered young man. "There's not much that could happen if you just sat down and held her. But if you're really that nervous, I can just keep holding her myself."
Goh let out a relieved breath and nodded. "That would be appreciated."
Chloe sighed before looking down at Michelle and giving her a smile. "Did Uncle Goh make you feel better?"
"Uncle Goh?!" He cried, his face paling.
Chloe giggled, catching the interest of Michelle. "Sure, why not? You and Ash are practically like brothers!"
Goh narrowed his eyes. "Ha ha. How would you like to be called Aunt Chloe?"
To his surprise, her face lit up. "I'd love it! In fact, I think I'll start using it. What do you think, Michelle? You want me to be Aunt Chloe?"
Michelle gurgled and stuffed a fist in her mouth. Chloe's smile widened, and she gave the baby a hug, tucking the little one's head beneath her chin as they snuggled.
Watching on quietly, Goh felt a strange flutter in his stomach. There was something about watching Chloe with the baby that made him…happy. He thought it was sweet, and it certainly brought out a different side of her; one that Goh didn't really get to see all that often.
And that was saying something, considering how long they'd known each other.
Confidence surging within him, Goh straightened up and suddenly blurted, "I think I want to try and hold her."
Chloe looked over at Goh, her eyebrows raised. "Seriously?"
Goh hummed and nodded. "I mean it. I said I love Aiden and Michelle, and I do! That means I should be comfortable holding them. And I think I'd rather try now with just you here than when Ash and Misty are around."
"How come?" Chloe murmured.
He seemed hesitant to respond, but Goh finally managed to explain, "I just get nervous around them. They don't do anything to make me anxious, but I feel like holding one of the babies in front of them would be too much pressure. I can't stop myself from picturing their faces if I were to drop one of them."
Chloe smirked. "Goh, you're not going to drop her! And I'll prove it to you."
She skirted closer to Goh, nodding towards the couch that was behind them. The two friends took a seat, Goh staring intently at Chloe.
"I'm going to hand her off to you, and all you have to do is hold her close to your body," Chloe instructed. "The biggest thing to remember is keeping your hand behind her head. She's still a little too young to be able to hold it up herself just yet."
Despite his nerves, Goh smirked, leading Chloe to raise an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing," Goh murmured. "I guess you just really do know more about babies than I do. I would've never known that."
Chloe shifted her eyes away. "Okay, I don't know that much. I've just heard Misty say it before. Really, all I do is pay attention to what she and Ash say about the twins. Outside of that, I probably know as much about babies as you do."
Goh was taken off guard by her admission. "But you seemed so confident before! I was sure you knew what you were doing!"
"I can be pretty convincing when I want to be," Chloe laughed weakly. "Honestly, part of me wanted you to be jealous. But the other part of me just didn't want you to be even more nervous than you already were to be left alone with Michelle."
"I wasn't nervous," Goh dismissed with a grumble.
"Yes, you were," Chloe calmly argued. "You always overcompensate when you're nervous, because you don't want people to think you have any weaknesses. But I know you better than that!"
An intense blush overtook Goh's cheeks, and he crossed his arms. "…alright, fine."
Chloe couldn't help but to giggle. "Anyway, I know I teased you before, but I'm well aware of just how much Aiden and Michelle mean to you, and that you'd take this responsibility seriously. But sometimes, you can't help but to let your nerves get the better of you."
Goh nodded. "I can understand that."
Smiling, Chloe nodded towards Michelle and asked, "you still want to hold her?"
Goh nodded again. Very carefully, Chloe passed Michelle over, watching intently as Goh held the baby close to him. Nervousness was still evident on his face, but as the seconds passed, Goh became visibly more comfortable, and his body loosened up considerably.
"See?" Chloe prodded. "It's not so hard!"
"No…" Goh murmured, gazing down at the baby. Michelle cooed softly and tilted her head back, locking eyes with Goh. Her lips then bent into the faintest of smiles, something Goh had only ever seen her do for her parents. "Chloe, look!"
It wasn't until then that Chloe realized she had completely zoned in on Goh, marveling at how cute it was to see him hold a baby. Blinking, she quickly averted her gaze to Michelle, and was surprised to see the same thing as him. "She's smiling!"
"Yeah!" Goh chuckled. "She looks so happy…what a big difference from before!"
Thinking for a moment, Chloe commented, "there's something about you she seems to really like."
Goh scoffed. "What, are you shocked or something?"
"I don't know," Chloe admitted, earning an eye roll from Goh. "Not because it's you, if that's what you mean. I'm only surprised because Michelle seems so picky about who gets near her, or who she actually enjoys being with. But she looks pretty happy with you. It's kind of cute!"
"Cute?!" Goh repeated with a choke, his face turning bright red. Michelle gurgled in response, one that Chloe took as a joyful sound.
"Wow, Goh! You're really holding her!"
He and Chloe looked towards the front of the room and were surprised to find Ash and Misty standing there, both looking pleasantly surprised. Aiden was in Ash's arms, completely passed out.
"Uh…yeah!" Goh chuckled nervously. "I managed to get up the nerve, thanks to Chloe."
Chloe, in turn, shrugged. "I really didn't do too much."
"But since you are holding her, I'm assuming she woke up?" Misty asked, her voice laced with sympathy.
"Yeah," Goh confirmed. "But don't worry! We only had a little bit of a hiccup."
"Along with plenty of screaming, I'm sure," Misty sighed. "I'm so sorry, guys. I was really hoping Michelle would stay asleep the whole time! Guess I couldn't be so lucky."
"Oh, it was no big deal," Chloe assured her. "Actually, Goh was able to calm her down pretty quickly! He had a really good idea and it worked like a charm."
"Really?" Ash marveled. "What'd you do?"
"I played that voicemail you left me the other day for her," Goh explained. "I figured hearing your voice might help her feel more comfortable, and it did! Well, it got her to stop screaming, at least."
"But she was still crying a bit even after that, so Goh just talked to her, and she stopped completely!" Chloe added. "It was really amazing! I'd never have Goh pegged as a baby whisperer, but that's totally how he came across."
Ash and Misty exchanged amused looks, bewildering Goh and Chloe.
"That's great!" Ash crowed, turning back towards their confused friends. "We knew we could trust you guys with Michelle."
"Yeah, maybe you'd both like to babysit more often, since Michelle seems to have taken quite a liking to Goh," Misty added, winking at the flustered young man.
Ash immediately took notice of Goh's face and snickered. "Come on, Mist. You're gonna scare him off before there's even a next time!"
"Fair enough," Misty conceded, walking over to Goh and taking the baby from him. "Thank you guys so much for taking such good care of her while Ash and I were gone! You don't know how much it means to us."
"We're always happy to help," Chloe assured her, winking at a scowling Goh.
Misty giggled and snuggled Michelle close to her, the baby cooing happily. "Aw, did you have fun with Goh and Chloe?"
"Actually, from now on, Chloe would like to be called 'Aunt Chloe'," Goh announced, causing Chloe to turn bright red as she sputtered protests.
"Aunt Chloe?" Misty repeated amusedly. "That's cute!"
"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "And Goh can be 'Uncle Goh'!"
Chloe finally relented and smirked, chirping, "that's what I said!"
When Ash looked over and saw Goh grimacing, Ash replied, "well, we are kind of like brothers!"
"I said that too," Chloe murmured, nodding her head while Goh's previous look of torture turned into a slightly amused smirk.
Misty laughed and poked Michelle's nose, causing the little girl to squeal. "Yeah, you definitely had fun."
I do think Goh and Chloe are pretty cute together, but I also think it would take them a pretty long time to realize and accept that, lol.
