Ash Ketchum has always had a keen sense of smell, and it's been both a curse and a blessing, all wrapped together to create fun and chaos. However, his sensitive nose has led to more trouble than it is worth.

Currently, Ash Ketchum is in his senior year at Tree Garden High School, and as a twelfth-grade student, he's had his fair share of meeting interesting students and staff alike over the course of four years. Forever a friendly character, he was well-liked by the general population on campus. However, he has been disliked by others as well.

Paul Sir, his current business technology teacher, was one of the select few school staff who did not get along with Ash. Previously, Paul was his economics teacher in the tenth grade, and in the eleventh grade, he was his accounting teacher. Unfortunately, this was not all there was to their relationship; he was also one of Ash's homeroom teachers. Due to an accident in Dawn Madam's assigned classroom prior to the start of the school year, Dawn Madam was his homeroom teacher in addition to Paul Sir.

While details were not shared, according to trusted sources, the accident in the classroom was a prank pulled by expelled students that had gone wrong. Thus, Dawn Madam's students had to share a classroom with Paul Sir's students, and the school administrators decided to combine the two groups of students together to create one large class shared by two teachers. There was an abandoned library available to be converted for use, and that was where everyone was placed as the single-story building was spacious enough to hold two sets of twenty students each.

The plan was to separate the two teachers and their classes for next year, but surprisingly, the two opposing teachers' students were so harmonious together that they decided to keep the combined class for all four years. As a consequence of this, Ash and his homeroom classmates have been together for freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, and now, senior year.

Ash would not trade it for the world. Sure, Paul Sir could be a strict tyrant, but Dawn Madam made up for it. She was an absolute angel in comparison to Paul's demonic ways. He especially loved the fact that Dawn baked something for her homeroom students every week. She was the school's only home economics, and so she had to keep up her reputation as being the best there is among the school staff in terms of cooking and baking. She always smelled like a bakery, with Ash detecting notes of blueberries, powdered sugar, licorice, vanilla extract, caramel, and cotton candy. There were some other notes to her, such as yellow florals like mimosa, narcissus, and ylang-ylang and some citrus like yuzu and tangerine, but that came from her perfume.

Whenever Dawn was in a good mood from something happening the day before, she'd ultra-smelling sweet with a soft spiciness to her, and that was because she wore her special perfume. Ash dubbed it the date night perfume because he overheard his classmates, Urusula and Georgia, discussing about which sort of fragrances to wear when you're on a date. Dawn must have gone on dates because she had this smile on her face that he's seen repeatedly on Professor Bianca, who was happily married to Instructor Cheren.

While Paul did not have as intense of a scent on him as Dawn did, Ash could respect his teacher's personal hygiene because Paul always smelled fresh and clean. He smelled like he had stepped fresh out of a shower and had changed into cleaned and ironed linen. There was always a lingering, soapy scent to him at all times. Ash detected notes of cedar, amber, tea, sandalwood, bergamot, cardamom, and leather in him.

This was how Paul and Dawn smelled like to Ash, but things changed later this year. Dawn started smelling more soapy, and Paul started smelling more sugary. Dawn especially smelled strange, almost as if she was wearing someone else's fragrance, which was rubbed onto her. What on earth could possibly explain this conundrum?

"Good morning, my friends, how are you all today?" Dawn called out to the classroom containing forty students, her warm and bright grin never ceasing to make her students smile in return as one of the select group of people who possessed a contagious smile.

After receiving responses from the students, she nodded her head in understanding before placing her hand on her forehead and scanning the room.

"What are you looking for," Professor Bianca asked Dawn.

Dawn bit her lip, a sheepish smile escaping from her as she shyly admitted, "We still have a few boxes from last semester lying around. I am afraid they are far too heavy for me to carry, and Paul Sir isn't here right now."

Ash raised his hand. "I'll do it," he called out from the back of the room.

Drew, who sat at the front, raised his hand second. "Me too."

"Me three!" Gary shouted. Gary was the grandson of the infamous Professor Oak, whose own grandmother started Tree Garden Academy.

Dawn clapped her hands together, "Awesome! Thank you so much for volunteering, you three! Just when I was going to ask if any big, strong students would do me a favor, you three came to my rescue. If you can, I would like you to take these boxes of textbooks to the main office. They ordered the wrong edition of the cooking and baking textbook I need for my class. Once you're done, please come back to the classroom. And, if it is possible, could you come to me after school?"

"I thought you didn't have office hours on Friday," Shauna pointed out.

Dawn nodded her head, "You're right, Shauna, my lovely. I don't, but I need these three to come see today." Turning to the three who were standing in front of her, she beamed, "Please do let me know what you would like for a reward, and I'll see to it that I can grant it to you."

With that, Ash, Drew, and Gary took off, carrying stacks of boxes to the main office, where a surprised Principal Maylene awaited them.

It was supposed to be a regular Tuesday morning, but Dawn Madam entered the classroom with Instructor Cheren, who carried a large tray full of churro bites. Although Dawn Madam was indeed shorter than most people, she still carried the trays containing the food and drinks she'd pass out to the class herself. Sometimes, she would bring in a cart to hold the food and drinks. Even if the average fifth grader in Tree Garden Academy's elementary school division was taller than her, she was able to handle bringing her treats to the class all on her own. Something was wrong, and Ash's intuition was telling him that her body was not in its usual condition. Her scent was even more off than before; it felt like she carried the scent of two other people with her now.

Paul Sir came to the classroom shortly afterward with a cart containing napkins and cups of water. It was nothing out of the ordinary, he would help out with the distribution, but what was suspicious was the softness in his eyes and the look of concern he sent to Dawn.

"Okay, I've had it," Ash roared out in frustration. Running his fingers through his hair irrationally, he took a deep breath before asking the big question that's been on his mind, "Dawn Madam, I hope you can find it within yourself to forgive me for what I'm going to say, but are you seriously ill or something?"

"Hey, where did that come from?" Drew scolded Ash, "You can't just ask a person randomly if their health is fucked up!"

"Mind your language, young man," Paul told Drew. He glanced at Dawn before glancing at the classroom before glancing back to Dawn. "I wish we could've kept the secret until the end of the school year, but we've already dragged it far enough as it is. Would you like me to tell them, or do you want to do it instead?"

"I'll do it," Dawn answered, she shrugged, "I mean, this was bound to happen anyways…You and everyone else who's school staff owe me a hundred each, by the way! I bet that it would be Ash who'd notice first, and I was right! Never underestimate how well I know these kids again, all right?" Turning toward the classroom, she waved at them before faking a cough to capture everyone's everyone. "Since you've brought it up, Ash, I suppose I should address something that me and Paul Sir should have told you all from the very beginning." Taking Paul's hand, their hands were held together as she announced, "Since the summer break, early August, to be more exact, Paul Sir and I have gotten married. And, the night before the first day of school started, I found out that I was pregnant…The expected due date for us is early July…I do plan on taking maternity leave, but I am fortunate enough that I will be able to see you all graduate before I leave."

Her revelation elicited many reactions, from gasps to whistles to groans.

"What the fuck? Seriously? You guys just can't get married in secret like that," Gary complained. "It's not fair to you, Madam, you used to tell us that you wanted a big fat fancy fairytale wedding. Of course, an asshole like that bastard over there would think about marrying you without giving you the wedding of your dream."

"I will have you all know that this asshole bastard did not suggest a secret marriage," Paul sighed, shaking his head at Dawn.

"Actually, it was my idea," Dawn admitted, "I did not want it to affect our already established environment, but I suppose that I should given you all the benefit of the doubt. You should not apologize, Ash. It should be us who should apologize for hiding this from you all. We just wanted to have a little peace and quiet, that's all."

Drew blushed, looking around in hesitation before asking, "If it's not too trouble, would you mind if we threw a baby shower for you? Since we didn't know that you two were married, it's a little too late for a wedding celebration, but you're still pregnant, I was thinking we ought to do something about it…It's the least we can do after everything you have done for us...Paul Sir included."

Dawn's eyes widened while Paul raised an eyebrow.

"Would you really go out of your way to do that for us," Paul questioned.

"Definitely," May squealed, "I've been meaning to show you just how much I've improved in cooking and baking! This is the perfect opportunity for me to show off everything I've learned from!"

"I agree," Leaf added, "I could be the party planner since I've helped out my older cousin, and she's a wedding planner, by the way! I wish you had told us you were going to get married; my cousin, Cordelisianna, would have planned your wedding free of charge!"

Misty nodded her head. She informed them, "My older sisters know a lot of people…We could throw the party at the barn house; it's got a few acres, and the greenery there is perfect for having the baby shower indoors."

Wiping her tears, Dawn giggled, "Well, I certainly don't know what to say."

"Just say yes, and we'll take care of everything, Dawn Madam! You and Paul Sir can just sit back and relax," Ash suggested.

"What do you say, Troublesome? Everything's being taken care of, and you did want to do something to celebrate the baby. Paul gestured to the starry-eyed students. "I am not one for being a cheapskate, but they drive a hard bargain, and I doubt you can get away with having a cheaper party than this. No amount of your extreme couponing skills will ever compare to their offer."

"Well, I don't think I really stand a chance of saying no to all of this," Dawn chuckled softly, "All right, if you all can promise me that you won't get into fights with another and end up injured because you were doing this party planning at my expense, then, I very much look forward to seeing what you all can come up with!"

Everyone cheered upon her acceptance. This was going to be one spectacular party if the students all put their minds together to plan everything. And it was all because of Ash's sensitive nose. Maybe Ash could be named the secondary father if he played his cards right…But the baby would need a secondary mother, and Ash couldn't think of anyone better than Misty. Ash and Misty may not always be in harmony, but they would make for a great pair of secondary parents for the baby. However, this was another story for another day.

The End.