Baby on Board- fic for Pokeprompts January 2011 prompt

[rosejailmaiden]

Title: Baby on Board
Author: nekusagi 
Rating: G
Verse: Pokemon XD^3 by The Great Butler
Characters: Rich Mistbloom/Anabel/Olivia Mistbloom
Summary: During some downtime on their travels, Rich and Anabel decide to stop in a small baby boutique to shop for their incoming bundle of joy
Notes: Remixed from The Great Butler's awesome Pokemon XD series. Thanks to TGB for letting me play in his sandbox!

The time was getting close to the big day for Anabel and Rich.

The two trainers had waited for months for the newest arrival to their family, and today they decided to do a little shopping prior to the birth. Anabel had found a great baby boutique and after much work, managed to convince her husband to join her on her shopping trip.

"We're traveling," she explained, "so we can't have a baby shower, after all."

Rich thought for a moment. "I guess we can go in there, Anabel. It's not every day you have a baby, after all." He found it impossible to resist her pleading eyes, and handed the credit card over to Anabel. Now she, Olivia, and Rich were browsing the shop's aisles, dreaming and planning for their future.

"Everything here is so expensive," Rich said, motioning to a tiny pink onesie. No sooner had he said this than a shop employee approached him.

"Oh, I see you found our new Baby Mareep line!" the employee squealed with delight.

"Your... what?" Rich asked, caught very off-guard.

"That onesie is made from only the finest fleece of freshly hatched young Mareep, raised on a diet of specially grown grasses in the valleys of Johto, and kept in a special climate-controlled barn." She beamed.

"That's... interesting," Rich remarked, backing away from the overeager salesperson. "I'm not sure it's for me, though."

"Of course it is!" the salesperson replied. "Your little one deserves nothing less than the best!"

"No, I really must be going," Rich said, quickly wheeling Anabel away, Olivia following behind. "Anabel," Rich said, "they scare me in here."

"It is a lovely outfit," Anabel said.

"Did you even see the pricetag on that?" Rich asked. "I know we're not broke, but-"

"Rich, I think I know better than to be ripped off by some pretentious baby clothes company," Anabel said, smiling. "I know you want me to be okay, but don't worry, I've got this under control. After all, I'm the one about to give birth, not you," she added.

"You're right," Rich agreed. "I just.. get a little out of hand sometimes, that's all. I don't remember things being this complicated when we had Olivia..."

"Why don't we let Olivia choose some things for us?" Anabel asked, wanting Rich to enjoy their day out. "She's a girl, she'd know what girls want."

"Olivia," Rich said, facing his daughter, "would you like to help us pick something out?"

"I'd love to!" Olivia said, looking at the shelves full of clothes, furniture, accessories, and toys. A set of colorful blocks caught her eye. They were pastel colored and had letters and numbers carved into the sides.

"Blocks!" Olivia said. "Let's get some blocks!"

Rich could remember when Olivia was very young and her favorite toy in the playroom was her set of building blocks, a set not unlike the ones she was looking at now. How she would build everything with them- houses, castles, whole cities with those little wooden blocks.

"You think your sister would like blocks?" Rich asked.

"Yeah!" Olivia said. "And I could show her how to use them!"

Anabel laughed. "You always did love your blocks, Olivia," she said. "You never could stop playing with them."

Olivia raced to another shelf and found some stuffed Pokemon dolls- a Pichu, a Clefairy, and a Teddiursa- and gleefully brought them over to Rich and Anabel.

"And these!" she said, pushing the dolls in Anabel's face. "She needs these too! They're cute!"

Rich and Anabel couldn't help but giggle at Olivia's enthusiasm. "You sound so excited about the new arrival," Anabel said to her, and she beamed.

"Yep!" she replied. "I'm going to have a sister, so I want her to feel welcome and happy and I want to be the best older sister ever!"

The trip progressed, and before long the shopping basket Anabel carried on her lap was full of various treasures- the building blocks and stuffed Pokemon, a warm, pink felt blanket, some baby bottles in various colors and sizes, and finally a bib covered in intricate embroidered flowers, one Anabel had selected herself, that matched the light violet color of her and Olivia's hair.

"What's left on our list then?" Anabel asked.

“I think we should get a stroller,” Rich said. “We're going to be on the road when you have her, and we're going to need an easier way of getting her around than just carrying her. It's best to get one now rather than be unprepared when it comes up. Don't you agree?”

Anabel reflected on this. “You're right. Let's look at what they have.”

Rich wheeled Anabel over to the display of strollers, as Olivia followed the two. He had never seen so many strollers in his life. They were lined up there side by side, in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some were simple folding ones, with just a cloth seat and a framework, and others were elaborate, in rich fabrics like velvet and satin and with unnecessary additions like an audio jack that turned the handlebars into music player speakers, a mobile dangling from the top of the stroller, or even headlights. They came in single seat, as well as some with multiple seats for twins or triplets.

“There's so many,” Rich said. “I'm a little overwhelmed.” Back when Olivia was born... it was simple looking for baby stuff. All he remembered buying before her birth was the basics- a bottle, a crib, a stroller, and a set of clothes.

Everything was more complicated for Rich these days. He missed the simplicity...

Rich looked in the cart. A part of him wanted to tell Anabel none of this was necessary, that it was so much dead weight for their travels.

He put a hand on Anabel's shoulder as Olivia frolicked around the display happily.

“Anabel,” he said. “Can I have a word with you, please?”

“What is it, Rich?” she replied.

“About all this stuff,” Rich said. “I don't recall buying this much when we had Olivia.”

“We didn't have a store like this when we had Olivia,” Anabel replied.

“Anabel, I think-” Rich began, and suddenly he heard Olivia's excited voice.

“Dad! I like this one! Look at it!” Olivia said, pointing at a stroller she particularly liked. Rich was taken aback. Olivia looked so excited, to be able to choose things for her future sister... this was a big deal for her. The way she wanted everything to be perfect for her sister.. Rich knew he couldn't just let her down like that.

Even if they were loaded with stuff, they had more than enough love to go with it. And that love, in the end, would make all the difference for the new arrival. And if being able to make sure she was the best big sister in the world was what Olivia wanted, that was what Rich wanted. When Olivia was happy, everyone was happy.

“What is it, Rich?” Anabel asked.

“I think we should go look at the stroller Olivia picked out,” Rich said.

Olivia had selected a pink stroller with a cute Psyduck pattern on the cloth parts. “I think this is cute!” she said cheerfully. “I think we should get this one for my new sister!”

Anabel laughed. “Olivia,” she said, “I don't think that's nearly big enough.”

“Not big enough?” Rich asked. “What do you mean, Anabel?”

Anabel giggled and said. “Oh, nothing, dear...”

She must mean it's not big enough for all the love we'll give her, Rich thought. Anabel tended to say things like that. “What should we get then?”

“Honestly Rich, this whole time I was thinking, and I was wrong. We don't need any of these things we're getting.”

Rich was taken aback. “But Anabel, wasn't it your idea to stop here in the first place?”

“Coming in here made me realize what's really important,” Anabel said. “Look how excited Olivia is at the idea of getting her new sister. That's the important thing, family. We'll get the blocks Olivia found, but we really don't need all of this other stuff so soon. Besides, how are we going to carry all of it?”

Rich felt a little silly now for being afraid to bring up Anabel's last concern earlier. “You're right, Anabel,” he said.

“Then unload this cart,” Anabel replied. “It's kind of hard for me to do when I'm in a wheelchair.”

~

On the way back from the baby boutique, Rich found he still couldn't get Anabel's comment about the stroller out of his head.

“Anabel, what exactly did you mean when you said that stroller wasn't big enough?”

Anabel just smiled. “You'll see, dear.”

 

 

Comments

[bay115.livejournal.com]

I already read this when you wanted me to have a quick read through of this piece, but I decided to read it again because I love it so much. :)

"No, I really must be going," Rich said, quickly wheeling Anabel away, Olivia following behind. "Anabel," Rich said, "they scare me in here."

I think I remember saying this to you about this part, but yeah I think you can leave the second 'Rich said' part. Makes the paragraph flow better.

"I'd love to!" Olivia said, looking at the shelves full of clothes, furniture, accessories, and toys. A set of colorful blocks caught her eye. They were pastel colored and had letters and numbers carved into the sides.

"Blocks!" Olivia said. "Let's get some blocks!"

Well, IMO, I think the two separate paragraphs should go together into one paragraph since you still have Olivia talking and the second paragraph is related to the first one. This is just me, though.

My main concern over this piece is you keep repeating "Rich said" and then "Anabel said" when the two were talking. You don't have to mention who spoke that line all the time as the readers will be able to figure who is the speaker and such.

Besides those minor problems, you did extremely well doing this remix. I especially love your take on Olivia in here. She's such a cutie and I just want to hug her, haha. Exceptional work here! ;)