Unhidden Secrets

Chapter Three: New Beginnings

Ash had his mind made up, he wanted to go back to Pallet Town and settle down with Misty so they could raise the baby together, however we wondered if Brock would wind up following them. The ebony haired young man knew that he had enough money saved up to rent a small apartment, hell he had been saving every cent he had for the past five years. And on top of that he had saving bonds and trust funds from various aunts and uncles, not to mention that one big one from his father who he knew absolutely nothing about. He could get a job somewhere maybe even open up his own Pokémon Day Care, and Brock would love to help out with the breeding aspect, that is... once he found out.

Yet Ash\'s dream was now cut off and it wasn\'t Team Rocket\'s fault this time. His hopes of becoming the number one Pokémon Master in the world were now just a memory in the back of his head. Nevertheless he wasn\'t the least bit discouraged, he had way more important things to think about now. He considered it some more and realized that he was going to like his new life much better, after all he was going to be together with his first, one and only true love; Misty, and their first ever baby. He was so excited, he thought, “A baby... wow... I can\'t believe it... I\'m gonna be a dad!”

The young couple walked back to Brock\'s house without knowing what to say, they would just play it by ear. The twenty one year old was sitting at the table, his father, brothers and sisters had all gone to the gym to watch Flint beat yet another challenger, and so Brock was all alone except for the Pokémon.

“So what was wrong?” He asked as soon as they settled down after taking off their coats.

“Oh... nothing, it was just something I ate, like you said. The doctor said that because I\'m on the road so much, my body doesn\'t have the time to get used to one place... so weird things can happen.” Misty explained nervously. “I\'m just lucky is wasn\'t the flu.”

“Yeah, you know what they say about drinking water from a foreign country. Well, at least you\'re not sick, you had poor Ash here scared to death.” Laughed Brock, while patting Ash on the shoulder.

“Yeah, ha, scared to death... right.” Ash forced a chuckle, now he really was scared to death. He wondered if Brock suspected anything.

Pikachu and Togepi heard that Ash and Misty were home and came running to the kitchen in order to greet them. Brock was now up and about making them all some hot cocoa to warm the two teens up from their walk. Togepi immediately jumped up so Misty could hold her, Pikachu on the other hand stared at the couple; somehow he seemed to know exactly what was up.

(I know what\'s wrong.) He muttered when Ash hugged him.

The adolescent looked down at the yellow Pokémon, “you know don\'t you?” he thought. He could never keep anything from Pikachu. Brock on the other hand was a totally different story, he was so much older then he was, in fact sometimes it seemed like he was more a father figure then a best friend. There had been plenty of occasions when Ash decided to keep something hidden from the breeder. Yet now, he knew he had to at least give him some piece of information about his future plans. He didn\'t want to tell him everything just yet, especially about Misty being pregnant. Ash sill had not told Misty about staying in Pallet; he wanted it to be a surprise.

“Uh... Brock, I was thinking we\'ve been here for a while, and well... I want to go back home to Pallet.” Ash began the conversation as smoothly as possible. “I think I want to take some time off to relax, I\'ve worked my Pokémon awfully hard, and well... they really deserve the rest. Misty\'s going to be staying with me, it is winter, and this year the weather\'s been pretty bad. So I think this would be the perfect time to take a couple of months off.”

“Wow Ash... I never heard this kind of talk coming from you... usually it\'s train, train, train, and nothing else.” As Brock spoke Ash\'s heart skipped a beat, what if he realized something was up? “You know, that\'s really responsible of you Ash... I\'m really proud of you. This weather is horrible for Pokémon and I\'m glad that you\'ve finally learned to take a break for once and save their energy.”

“Thanks Brock.” Ash mentally relaxed.

The Pokémon Breeder handed them each a cup of hot cocoa and they all sat down at the table to further discuss Ash\'s plans, and to figure out what Brock wanted to do. As the two boys talked, Misty played a card game with Pikachu and Togepi. She had to sip her cocoa very slowly because it was making her nauseous and she was sick of throwing up so often for the past few days. She knew she had to be extra careful, the longer they could hide this from Brock the better.

~* ))O(( *~

A few day\'s later, the young and expecting couple was off to Pallet Town. When they got there Ash didn\'t even bother with visiting his mom or Professor Oak... hell he was too scared to. He went straight to Pallet Town Realty he was looking for an apartment to rent, something small and cozy just for the two... well three of them, and the Pokémon of course. Until he could find a decent and affordable place to live, they would be staying at the newly constructed Pallet Town Pokémon Center. He left Misty there to get some much needed sleep and promised her that he would return that evening with everything all ready for them. The people in the agency gave him odd glances. Sure he was young, but when they checked his credit report and bank statements, they were more than happy to comply. The agent he was dealing with said that with his credit history, affording a home of his own would be no problem. In fact there was a house available in one of the few busy sections of Pallet. The once small town had definitely expanded over the past few years. The house was only one floor, and it had no basement. It did have two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, and a small room for a washer and dryer that led into a small garage. The house also contained a full front yard and back yard, which the real state agent said, was large enough for a pool. Ash thought it was perfect and cheap; therefore they went to go look at it. It belonged to an older couple that said they were sick and tired of the noise, they were selling the house, and everything in it. They apparently owned a small cottage up on Mount Moon and were quite anxious to “get the hell out of this hell hole”. The house was in great condition, the furniture, oddly enough was modern Scandinavian and also in good condition, and Ash couldn\'t say no, even though the house reeked of chocolate chip cookies. Therefore, he granted the senior citizens wishes, he signed the papers; paid the ten thousand dollar down payment, and right then and there, he held the deed and keys to his first home, as the two elderly lovers sped off to their cottage in their 1958 vintage Thunderbird convertible with their pet Tentacruel sitting between them. Ash stood silently in the front yard in a bit of a shock as his real estate agent took down the “For Sale” sign. It was freezing out, snow covered the ground, and they had the top down. The image of the Tentacruel\'s tentacles flapping and frozen in the wind, lingered in the adolescents mind.

“Hmm, only four o\'clock. That took less time than I thought.” The agent remarked after he tossed the sign in the back of his snow filled pick up truck and glanced down at one of his many cell phones.

“I thought that was gonna take at least two weeks to finalize.” Ash mentioned. He tossed the keys in his hand and flashed his infamous smirk.

“Well, with the Melanie\'s, they usually only take a couple of hours.”

“You\'ve dealt with them before?”

“Yeah, they\'ve been trying to sell this house since all the construction started, they owned three others as well, including one all the way down by the shore. Each time they sold a house it was like they were winning the lottery.” The agent explained with a laugh. “They wouldn\'t leave Pallet permanently unless their last house was sold, and their final day here was today Mr. Ketchum.” He paused and asked. “So, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure... I guess.”

“If you\'re only fifteen, why are you settling down here? Why not a sky-rise studio in one of the cities?”

Ash looked up at the snow, which was beginning to fall in soft flurries around his new front yard.

“I grew up here... and I want my son or daughter to grow up here too.”

The agent looked at him, as if he finally understood and nodded with a small smile on his middle-aged face. Without another word spoken they entered the truck and road down to the agency in order to sign the final papers.

Ash was smiling ear to ear when he got back to the Pokémon Center. He woke up his red haired girlfriend with a gentle kiss on the forehead and was greeted with a sweet smile.

“Hey...” Said Misty, eyes fluttering open.

“I have a few surprises for you.” Ash mentioned after he helped her out of the covers.

“Like?”

“You\'ll see, when I\'m ready.” He lifted her up into a hug. “Now, we\'re gonna get the two of you ready.”

Misty couldn\'t help but giggle. She loved how Ash was referring to her as “the two of you” or “you two”, meaning of course, she and the baby. He tickled her tummy and carried her to the bathroom in order to give her a bath. He washed her gently in a tub full of bubbles, then once she was dried and sitting covered only in a towel, he presented her with her first surprise. It was a beautiful new blue tunic, with embroidered water lilies along the edges.

“Oh Ash... it\'s so pretty. Thank you.”

“I thought it would go nice with this...” He handed her another box, in it was a long denim skirt, perfect to wear for the cold weather outside. “They\'re not maternity, but the shirt\'s baggy and the skirt has strings so you can adjust it as the baby grows.”

Misty stood up and gave Ash a huge hug and kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too Mist.” He pressed her naked body close to his own and massaged his fingers into the small of her back, knowing that soon it would begin to bother her from the weight of their child. “Come on, I\'ll get you dressed, then we can go out for dinner, you two must be starved.”

“Yeah...” Misty rubbed her tummy, which was still perfectly flat. “We are actually, it\'s a big change from throwing up every hour of the day and not being able to eat a single bite.”

“It\'s alright, the past couple of day\'s I\'ve been doing a lot of research on the Internet. It\'s perfectly normal...” He brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. “Everything is gonna be fine, if you throw up, well... you throw up, I\'ll be there to make sure you have a trash can and keep your hair out of you face, and I will always clean up the mess.”

Misty didn\'t say a word, she just stepped right back into his arms and snuggled closer to his warm body. When the mother of his unborn child was done dressing Ash decided to take her out to a small café in the heart of town for a celebration dinner. She could only nibble on a few different things, but Ash was more that happy to buy her anything her heart desired. They ended the night by sleeping in their new home, in the same small bed. They thought it was odd that the couple had decided to sleep in two separate twin sized beds instead of one big one. They snuggled closely together, and knew that they couldn\'t be happier.

As the days went by, everything began falling into place. Ash was able to obtain a part time job at the Pallet Town Pokémon Center doing physical therapy with recovered Pokémon; he had a natural knack at it. It was all how he pictured it, a beautiful home, a rewarding job, a beautiful girlfriend, and a beautiful baby on the way. He was a man now (actually Misty had made him a man) with his own house, paying his own bills, and in approximately seven months be taking care of his own family.

The first week had passed, and one after noon, while they were eating lunch, (Ash had actually managed to cook Misty a delicious chicken noodle soup, which accompanied their salami sandwiches) they were disrupted by the doorbell ringing.

“I wonder who that could be?” Ash asked with his mouth full of hot soup and sandwich.

Pikachu perked up his ears, he knew who is was, and went to quickly answer the door, with his cute little pika butt shaking behind him and a wobbling baby Togepi following close behind.

“Hey Pikachu!” Brock\'s voice greeted the electric type.

“Shit...” Ash whispered, he hastily got out of his seat and walked to the door. “Hey Brocko!”

“Ash! Man, what\'s up, I had to look you up in the directory... nice place, you didn\'t tell me you\'d be renting a place out for the next couple of months.”

“Um, yeah, well m... my mom...”

“Yes I saw your mother at the market before.” Brock began rather seriously but he was cut off.

“Ok, cool...” Ash said, he was trying to play along to act as if he had visited his mother all along and that she knew he was here instead of at home.

“Ash she was kissing Professor Oak.” Brock explained with a frown.

“What? That ass hole! I\'m gonna kill him for touching my mother!” Ash yelled angrily, he definitely was not expecting that. “Pikachu get me the phone now!”

“Pika pi chu!” (Don\'t yell at me!)

Pikachu brought Ash the cordless phone. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He called Professor Oak\'s number, but the answering machine came up. “Sorry I\'m not going to be home for the next three weeks me and a very special friend of mine (their was giggling in the back ground) are on vacation in Acapulco. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year I\'ll see you in January. Bye.”

“Great he\'s on Vacation, they must have left right after you saw them, no wonder they were at the market.” Said Ash angrily. “My mom\'s with him, special friend my ass! Damn it!”

“Whoa, so much for the welcoming...”

“Well you brought it up.”

“Yeah sorry but I felt it my obligation to tell you.”

“Eh...” Ash walked back to his chair and continued to eat his soup.

“Hey Misty!” Brock greeted the vibrant red head cheerfully.

“Hi.” She made a tiny gulping noise. She forced herself to drink some water in hopes to minimize the need to vomit. Miraculously it worked, and she quickly made an excuse as to why she “chocked”. “Ag! I think the soup went down the wrong way; either that or it was a chicken bone... Ash.”

She gave him a death glare and he stared quizzically back at her, he understood why she had made the comment, but they needed to keep up the charade, hopefully Brock would leave before their “two months” was up. Misty would only be four months along, so her pregnancy wouldn\'t be showing that much. The couple was walking a high tight rope now; anything they said could give their situation away. In all honesty, they would rather that Brock didn\'t know their secret. It was something special between Ash and Misty alone, they felt that if they told anyone else, not only would they get in trouble, but it was as if it wouldn\'t be theirs to keep any more, like their secret could be taken away, and that was something they didn\'t want happening. So they smiled at each other marveling at the fact that only they knew.

To Be Continued...