Last Will

By Llyxius

Chapter Two

"You look like you're going to a funeral," Tracey observed as he stared across the waiting room at Gary. Gary scowled and adjusted the collar of his black dress shirt.

"I was just trying to look nice..." he said.

"No, not that. I mean your face. You've got this look that says you'd prefer losing to Ash than doing this," Tracey said. Gary smiled slightly at that.

"I'm just a little nervous," he admitted, and gestured to the manila envelope in his hands. Per his grandfather's request, he had brought it with him, but he had too much respect to open it. Not that the thought hadn't crossed his mind. "God, I've got my grandfather's will in my hands, and he's acting like I'll be reading it within the next few weeks. Why shouldn't I be?"

"You have good reason to be," Tracey said. "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to look that way when we visit Professor Oak."

Gary ran his hand through his hair, making what had been combed straight a tousled set of spikes. "Right," he said. "Sorry-I'm just still anxious and a bit frustrated right now. I don't meant to take it out on you."

"I understand. Same here."

There was an awkward silence. Gary stood up and walked over to the window, staring out of it as he wondered why hospital interior design had to be so dismal, while Tracey busied himself shuffling through the HDK folder he had brought with him. The black-haired boy's head ached, and it was either from all the work he had been doing the past few nights, or from lack of sleep-or some combination of both. He had been forced to be a buffer for Gary's temper lately, and being on edge himself after a night of tossing and turning hadn't helped matters. Besides the physical stress, the emotional strain had begun taking its toll as well. He was exhausted just thinking about how the upcoming meeting could make things worse.

A door down the hall opened and both boys looked up as the nurse who had been attending Professor Oak stepped out into the hallway. The pretty pink-haired woman smiled at them as she said, "Mr. Tracey? Mr. Oak? You can come in now," and then continued down the hall to the nurses' station. The tension was broken as Tracey closed his eyes and shook his head while Gary laughed out loud.

"Sketchit," Tracey mumbled, "It's Sketchit. How hard can it be to remember that? It's been three weeks!"

"If it's any consolation, more than likely the only reason she remembers me is because she knows I'm his grandson," Gary said, smirking. "And the only reason she knows that is because Grandpa's name is on the door."

"If Brock didn't have Wilhelmina, I swear, he'd have another Nurse Joy to add to his collection." Tracey sighed as he stood up and he and Gary walked down the hall to Professor Oak's room. "There's Classy Joy, there's Perky Joy, and now introducing-Ditzy Joy."

"What, now she's a Mattel product?" Gary commented and then they reached the room. The teasing stopped and the two boys exchanged a wary look as Gary rapped lightly on the door to announce their arrival and then stepped in. He smiled, mostly for his grandfather's sake, though he never knew whether to smile or cry when he saw him lately. The older man's failing health was apparent in his appearance. He'd lost fifteen pounds since his attack, and the hollows of his cheeks showed it. He had also turned finicky in his eating habits and was lucky if he finished half his meals. Try as they did, the doctors couldn't give him all the nutrients he needed through the IV in his arm, and his malnutrition showed by his skin's yellowish cast and his normally glossy hair's lost sheen. At least, Gary noted when he walked in the room, his grandfather wasn't on the oxygen tank today. It stood by his bed, ready to be used if necessary.

"Hi, Grandpa," he said softly and moved to the side so that Tracey could come in the door. Professor Oak's face lightened when he saw his visitors. Gary knew that the older man was usually happiest during the first moments of their visits-anything to break the wearing monotony of the day. Gary was his most faithful visitor, spending several hours with him each day, though Tracey came several times a week, when he had some time to spare from managing the lab and preserve. May came as often as a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy could comfortably come, as well. Ash and Misty also came at least twice a week, and there had been several times they had met Ms. Ketchum on her way out as they were coming in. Gary and Tracey were the only ones who knew the depths of the Professor's depression, though-Gary most of all.

"Gary, Tracey." The professor's voice was anemic, but he smiled gratefully at the two boys. Gary immediately crossed the room to place a kiss on his grandfather's cheek, while Tracey stood back, politely trying to give them space as he wondered at how quickly they had become accustomed to the Professor's frailty.

"How are you doing today, Professor?" Tracey asked, settling in a chair beside the bed as soon as he saw that Gary was doing the same. The hard plastic chairs were so uncomfortable he thought they'd be more appropriate in a fundamentalist service than a hospital, but it wouldn't be right to complain in front of the Professor-emergency surgery right after the attack had left him so weak that the Professor needed physical therapy just to be able to walk again. He had been bedridden for so long that the doctors said he was lucky he hadn't had bedsores yet. That was one small mercy, Tracey supposed. The Professor had enough major health issues to deal with besides minor ones, as well.

"Lunch was awful," the Professor said. "Undercooked spaghetti, and they used sausage sauce. Don't they know I don't like sausage sauce?" He gave Gary a pained look.

"I'll talk with the nurses," Gary assured him. "They shouldn't have given you sausage sauce, though. The doctors don't want you having things like that. They gave us a list, and the cooks should know that."

"Well, it was," Professor Oak insisted, and Gary and Tracey exchanged a look. Tracey mouthed an I'll take care of it, and Gary sighed. Tracey had taken on more than he should have, but Gary had enough trouble trying to keep up with the doctors and the insurance. He nodded an agreement to the assistant.

"Professor Oak," Tracey said, "can I ask you something?" He gestured to the folder in his hands. He thought it was prudent to distract the Professor's attention; life in the hospital didn't give his mentor much to do other than complain. Tracey would bring the Professor his academic pokémon journals sometimes, and that provided fodder for conversations, but those didn't come out often enough to keep him busy, so it was a good thing Professor Oak didn't mind talking about business on their visits. Tracey once hypothesized that it was because it reminded him that there was life outside the hospital, but then Gary made fun of him by saying that he was supposed to be a pokémon watcher, not psychologist, and Tracey kept his mouth shut after that.

"Of course you can," the Professor said. His eyes flicked to his assistant's face.

"Well, we had a new shipment of pokémon food the other day, so I had make out a money order for EnergyOne. When I was going through the bills, I came across this," Tracey said, and handed Professor Oak the folder. Professor Oak's eyes widened when he saw it, and Tracey hastily added, "It was almost an accident I found it, really, but I happened to notice that you had made payments to this person before, and I was wondering if you needed me to write a check for you while... well, I just wondered if you need me to." He flushed slightly, not wanting to make any reference to the Professor's condition, especially if he was displeased with their bringing the folder in the first place.

But after his initial surprise, the Professor actually seemed happy that they had found it. "What? Oh, no. She's been fine for some time now. Quite some time." He was still smiling, and Gary and Tracey looked at him, unanswered questions in their eyes.

"Although, that does remind me. Did you bring my will, Gary?" Professor Oak asked, causing his grandson to startle. Gary nodded mutely, but before he say anything, his grandfather added, "I need to make an amendment to it when my lawyer comes by tomorrow. I need to add Hope to my will."

Tracey and Gary looked at each other. Gary still remembered-and was embarrassed by-his overreaction the previous night. But this still seemed, if not suspicious, rather strange behavior from his grandfather. "Grandpa?" he asked hesitantly. "This may not be any of my business, but...can I ask who Hope is?"

"She is... a nice girl," Professor Oak said, his gaze focused on the ceiling in nostalgia. "She's a very nice girl, and though it took her a while to realize that herself, once she did, she blossomed beautifully." He sighed as he remembered.

"Is she a friend?" Gary prompted, curious as to this woman who had such a hold over his grandfather. The only other people who had such power over him were his sister, May, and... Gamma.

"She's... yes. A friend. We met... eighteen years ago..." And Professor Oak smiled again as he settled back against his pillows to tell them.

~~~~

"Spencer, where are my papers?" The dark-haired man pushed his glasses back in frustration as he looked through the file cabinet. At thirty-nine, Professor Samuel Oak had already established a name for himself as a top pokémon researcher. After retiring as a trainer at age twenty-five and then completing his graduate studies at the highly prestigious Johtotechnic University, he spent a few years lecturing and doing post-doctorate work before he returned to his father's hometown of Pallet to establish a pokémon laboratory and preserve. At that time he was engrossed in a project involving the digestive system of wild metapod, and he was trying to refresh his memory by reviewing his previous reports before he began the next experiments. This was assuming he could find his notes, however.

"Right here, Professor." His assistant gestured to the stack of papers sitting on Professor Oak's chair, where the Professor had placed them just moments ago before having to go to the laboratory to take a call on their only VidPhone. The Professor couldn't be faulted for not being organized-just absentminded.

"Ah, yes." The Professor picked them up and scanned them approvingly before being distracted by a tiny voice.

"Excuse me?"

Professor Oak looked up to see a waif of a girl standing in front of him. From looks alone, he'd place her age at fourteen at most, though he assumed she was older to not be in school at the time-unless she was on leave as a trainer, of course. Her vibrant red hear and slim but athletic figure indicated she could be a cheerleader, and her smart yet fashionable tortoiseshell glasses told him that she was probably bright. But what was she doing in his laboratory?

"Can I help you?" he asked cordially. She raised her hands, and he noticed that she had a single sheet of paper in her hand. She offered it to him as she spoke.

"I'm looking for job placement," she said, and the Professor noted her careful vocabulary. "I have a résumé, and I was told that you sometimes hire assistants." Her eyes flicked to Spencer Hale as she said this, and he nodded with a smile, as if saying yes to both the questions Do you work here? and Do you think I'm cute? Her spirits were temporarily buoyed by this as she looked back over to Professor Oak. She had heard of him before-who hadn't? -but it was encouraging to see that both he and his assistant were nice men.

Her hopes were raised only to fall, though, when the Professor lifted his head, gave her a sympathetic smile, and said, "Yes, that's true, but unfortunately I don't need any extra help at the moment. However, I'd be more than happy to keep your résumé on file if you would like."

The young woman faltered, but forced a wobbly smile to her lips. "Yes, I'd appreciate that. I'm sorry to bother you, I can see you're busy. I'll-I'll go now-"

She turned to leave, and Professor Oak immediately gave a concerned look after her. She was in obvious distress over something; most people may be disappointed at a rejection, but they wouldn't be overly upset. And she was so young... he didn't particularly want to get involved, but he was too compassionate not to. He looked down at the résumé, gave an interested hmm as he saw the name, and then turned back to her. "Miss Hope Kismet?" he called to her. She stopped, but didn't turn around. "That's a pretty name," he told her, encouraging. "Can I ask you, is there something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," she said, but her voice told him that she was anything but fine. "I'm sorry again..."

Professor Oak nodded to his assistant, and Spencer immediately walked over to her, took her by the arm, and gently led her over to a chair, while Professor Oak walked over to join them, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and offering it to her. She took it and dabbed her eyes. "Sorry," she said once more in a whisper.

"That's quite all right," the Professor said reassuringly. "Now can you tell me if there's anything we can do to help?"

"It's... no. You barely know me, I couldn't burden you. I've just been under a little stress lately. You're kind, but..." The girl said, attempting to regain her composure.

"But you're upset, and I want to help," Professor Oak said. "I have a daughter that's just about your age-she just gave birth to our second grandchild, in fact. If she or either of my grandbabies were in trouble I'd be grateful for anyone who helped them, and I want to do the same for you."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes rimmed with red. "Is she married?" she whispered, shamed to even be asking that question.

"Why... yes," Professor Oak said, a little taken aback. "She married five years ago, and she gave birth to our granddaughter about one year afterwards..."

"Would you still love her if she hadn't been married?" The girl's face flushed as she saw Spencer's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

The Professor's eyes went soft in understanding. He took her hand in his and patted it tenderly. "Of course. Parents love their children no matter what they do, and they're just thankful to be blessed with a grandchild, regardless of the circumstances."

She was quiet for a moment, and when she did speak there was a bitterness in her tone that was incongruous with youth as she said, "I guess that depends on who your parents are. Because my parents don't love me." And then she buried her head in his kerchief and started crying.

"There, there," Professor Oak said, keeping one hand on hers and standing up to rub her back consolingly. "You don't know that..."

"You don't understand," she said, still weeping. "I do, because they...they told me. They told me I was a failure, and a disappointment..."

Professor Oak felt a surge of anger, but kept it down as told her, "Sometimes, people say things when they're angry that they don't really mean..."

"Maybe," the girl said, sniffling, "But they were really angry-they won't forgive me any time soon. They told me I couldn't keep the baby. They didn't like the father... they thought he was in a gang or something, but I thought he was good. I thought he was just had a few unpolished edges, and all he needed was for someone to have faith in him-until I got pregnant, and he dumped me."

Spencer stiffened at the thought of this jerk, and even though Professor Oak saw red himself thinking of this worthless father, he shook his head slightly to warn his assistant not to speak. "I'm sorry," Professor Oak said. "He was a fool to leave someone as nice as you."

"My parents don't think I'm nice," she said. Her tears were drying but her eyes remained sorrowful. "They said if I didn't have an abortion, I would have to leave. I couldn't even finish my school term. It was my senior year, and I only had three months left. I would have been second in my class. But they kicked me out... now I've got to find a place to stay, and a job... otherwise, I can't keep my baby..."

She suddenly realized what she was saying, and her face turned scarlet. "Oh God, I'm so sorry," she said, and tried to stand up. "I shouldn't have told you all that... I shouldn't have bothered you..."

"Shh..." Professor Oak gently pressed down on her shoulders so that she had to sit back down. "It's quite all right. I asked, didn't I?" She shrugged in embarrassment, and tried to smile. He continued to talk to her soothingly. "Sometimes, it helps just to talk about it. I'm not your parent, but I am a parent, and I can tell you that what they did to you was wrong. But I think that your parents must still be good people, if they've raised a daughter who's a really good person herself. We'll just hope that they come to realize soon that they've made a mistake, and that they're missing out on something really special."

"How do you know I'm a good person?" she asked, uncomfortable talking about such a subject with a stranger, yet needing an answer.

"I can just tell," Professor Oak said, smiling at her. "After all, someone who cares so much about her baby that she's willing to give up so much must be someone special." She blushed and he asked, "Now I need you to tell me something. Where are you staying right now?" he asked.

"The Viridian City PokéCenter..." she said. "Nurse Joy has been helping me look for a job. She said she would take me on herself, but the government grant she has isn't enough to cover two full-time positions."

"Ah. Nurse Joy is a fine lady," he said, while laughing on the inside-Nurse Joy had probably sent the girl to his place herself, knowing full well that the entire story would come out and that he wouldn't be able to refuse the young girl. "And you just need a job, you say?" She nodded, and he smiled at her. "Well, you didn't say that. It's true that I don't have any room for another assistant," he conceded, "but I had been mulling the notion of a secretary. Do you have any skills?"

She bit her lip. "I've had no formal training," she said honestly, fear in her voice at the admission. "I have taken Typing, though, and I can type sixty words per minute."

"Well, that's better than me and Spencer here," Professor Oak said, laughing as he tried to cajole a smile out of her. "And you can answer the phone?"

"Yes..."

"Then you're hired," he finished, and patted her shoulder. She looked up at him, surprise and gratitude all over her face.

"Do you mean that...?" she asked softly.

"Of course," he said, and was in for his own shock when she leaped out of the chair and enveloped him in a hug. He instinctively returned it before she backed away. His heart felt warm... the girl had already faced so much from the world, and it made him feel good to know that he was the cause of some good in her life. He would take her under his wing and do his best to protect her from now on for as long as she let him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, giving an embarrassed giggle. She looked down at the ground and tried to restrain the smile from her face. "I'm just... so thankful..."

"I wouldn't mind some thanks," Spencer said, and they all laughed. The girl stayed put, though.

"Well, um... I guess I need to be going..." And then a flicker of worry crossed her face again. "Professor Oak, you've been so nice, that I think I need to tell you something."

"Only if you think it's necessary," he said.

"I do. It's..." she faltered. "It's that, you don't know my real name." Her face burned with shame. "I'm sorry. My first name really is Hope, but my parents...they didn't want anyone to know... I tried to comply with their wishes..."

"Well," Professor Oak said. "We will need your legal name for the payroll. But I don't think it's a problem if we keep your documentation under your alias. That is the secretary's job, after all." He winked, and she flushed.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for everything. I think I'd better go now..."

"Hold on a minute," he said, and she looked at him. "That is, if you have a moment to spare...?" She nodded, and he smiled. "Good. Then I'd like you to come meet someone-my wife. I think you'll hit off admirably. Her name is Faith."

She giggled again, a girlish giggle that had a hint of the happiness someone her age was supposed to have instead of the sadness. "What a coincidence," she said. "I don't want to be a nuisance..."

"Quit being polite. I invited you, didn't I?" She smiled shyly, and Professor Oak nodded towards his assistant. "Spencer, hold down the fort for a while. I've got to go introduce my beautiful wife to a beautiful young lady."

Professor Oak smiled as Hope giggled again. His life had just taken an unexpected and major turn, but not unwelcome. Funny what doing the right thing will do to a person... he had a feeling that Hope was going to be one of the best things that happened to him in a long time.

Quick! Email Llyxius in a hurry and tell her to write more! NOW!

Return to Love and War for more Eldershipping angst! *_*