Namekians don't have libidos, so his attraction to Goku can't be sexual, or even romantic in nature.

He isn't jealous of the fact that Chi-Chi is his wife, and he is sure he wouldn't care if he had a different woman for each day of the week. He isn't possessive either, because he's never minded Goku spending time with Krillin or that man with the scar on his cheek.

He doesn't even feel that frustrated over the fact that now his greatest enemy would be Vegeta, not as much as it used to. He doesn't feel like he owes him anything for sparing him in their first fight nor does he feel guilty for having killed him when Raditz came to Earth- the first he only found weird, but not really (he understands the thrill of having a strong opponent), and the second because as simple as Goku might be, they both understand that it was the only possible course of action at the time. He didn't kill him for revenge, but out of a necessity.

He doesn't want kindness, or friendship, or sex from him.

Still, he gets the kindness and his friendship -the sex part would be awkward, really, so he's quite relieved he doesn't get that. He just... wants Goku to be there.

He enjoyed the time training with him for the coming of the androids, the constant pushing of himself to his limits. He enjoyed not having to hold back at all, knowing that even if he managed to hurt the other seriously, the idiot would laugh it off... because Goku was an idiot, and he never would hold it against him. If he told him that he hated him, the other probably wouldn't even believe it.

Saiyans truly were a stupid race. Vegeta had all but confirmed that rule for him recently with the whole Cell incident.

And he does hate Goku sometimes. He hates the fact he stole his child just to hurt him, and the idiot never got it, though he sometimes he wonders if Chi-Chi hates him in Goku's place. He hates that Goku was actually thankful for the fact he taught Gohan to fight, the fact that now they share his love, and that Gohan has become yet another link tying his life to the Saiyan warrior. So much of his life is defined by Goku, directly and indirectly, it overwhelms him and he sometimes wonders what would have been of him if he'd never met Goku... if the stupid monkey had died as a result of the fight with his Sire. What would have happened then?

He doesn't want to know and he doesn't want to think about it, just like he doesn't want to think about the fact Goku sacrificed himself out of his usual innocent obliviousness and instead concentrates on how this is all Vegeta's fault.

He almost contemplates voicing that thought, and perhaps indulge in some mutual bonding through common hatred, when the female next to him suddenly folds on herself, one hand on her stomach and the other over her mouth, eyes wide and unfocused. He slams the brake in a way that would have destroyed the car if he hadn't taken the driving lessons three times until he got them right- better than Goku, that is-, and he is out of the car and dragging her out of the seat in a heartbeat, all without noticing the way her knees are buckleing.

He tries to pick her up, but she flails in such a way that he starts considering knocking her out just to get her to stop. She then doubles over and he has to use his speed to avoid getting her to vomit all over the shirt he's borrowing from Goku. Chi-Chi falls to her knees and narrowly misses actually dropping on her own waste.

"Bastard!" Had she been aiming for him? He laughs even as he tries to help her up, being careful to stay behind her, and helps her to the side of the road, inwardly wincing at the way she tenses under his hands each time a new heave goes through her small form, now worrying that something really is wrong with her.

"Forget the car, I'm taking you to Korin's tower," he says once she's calmed down some. Her face is milky white with blue undertones, and she's shaking. Her eyes suddenly have blue-purple bruises around them and he wonders what the hell he is going to tell Gohan if his mother turns out to have one of those horribly mortal diseases humans are so prone to. Would the senzu seeds cure her? Goku had more than just a little handful of them through his life and it still took the medicine Trunks brought from the future to treat his heart's condition.

"No."

Though maybe the seeds did keep the sickness at bay for all those years? If they kept her on a regular diet-

"What?"

For a moment, he gawks at her, and this time she has the nerve of laughing at him. He hadn't been able to help it. He had been going through his mind in a frenzy trying to find out what she might have, how to treat it, and what to do in general and her refusal had been the vocal equivalent to an unexpected punch in the gut.

"We are not going to that tower. I'm sick and tired of going to that niche every time something goes wrong, as if that could save us..."

He opens his mouth, ready to tell her she has a son to look after and even if Goku doesn't think about those kinds of things, she is supposed to, because she is the rational parent, the thoughtful parent, and a whole lot of things that would be oh-so practically wrapped in an 'I'm-not-asking-and-you-are-going', but then she continues.

"I don't think that what I have can be cured with those seeds."

His sensitive hearing seems to catch all the hidden undertones, all the complicated shift of emotions in that single sentence and he is again caught between the guilt and that usual anger that minding about her well-being brings.

He is not letting her get away with this.

"Then I'm taking you to the hospital."

Her answer is a shuddering breath.

"We were going there anyway."

He wonders how the hell she manages to look so god-damned smug with herself even as she continues to empty her stomach on the side of the road.

******* TBC *******