"In The Future"
Chapter 7: Hyperemesis Gravidarum
"I thought it was called morning sickness. Not every-waking-minute sickness."
"It doesn't have to be in the morning—it all just depends on the woman."
"You'll starve whatever's inside of you at this rate."
"Then what do you suggest I do?"
"The only thing that can be done, though I hate the thought of it—go to the hospital."
"Don't be so extreme, Vegeta. It'll go away eventually."
"I'm not going to force you," Vegeta said with crossed arms.
"Alright," Pan said.
She was sitting on her living room couch and Vegeta stood near her as if he was about to go somewhere.
"But this is getting ridiculous, Pan. Don't wait too long."
"You're going somewhere, aren't you?"
"Yeah, Shenron's waiting for me right outside."
"That's not funny, Vegeta."
"I'm just getting some fresh air, Pan—you and the toilet can have some alone time."
"It'll go away, Vegeta."
"We'll see," Vegeta said simply as he made his way to the front door.
Pan watched as he easily made his way around tables and chairs to get to the door. Everything he did was so smooth and confident; no one would believe at first glance that he was even blind. In Pan's opinion, the cane was cramping his style, but it would look rather odd, in human's eyes, to have a blind, old man without a cane or some kind of walking stick.
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Great. A headache. Just what he needed at a time when he needed to keep his mind clear. Keeping a clear head had been becoming harder and harder to maintain over the last few years.
Everyday his head would be filled with indistinguishable voices. They were all pleading voices and only at night when he slept, he could discern them. It seemed that all they wanted to do was to tell their stories to someone who was willing to listen. And Vegeta, since he had nothing better to dream about, would listen almost intently. Their indiscernible noises during the day would lesson if only by a little, but when he was around Pan there was utter silence. He could talk to her in peace—maybe that was why he didn't mind being around her even if she could sometimes be annoying.
Only someone crazy could hear those that others couldn't or so that was what Vegeta thought. He couldn't really see the future—those were just silly, pointless dreams that he could never hope to decipher. Seeing spirits? They were just images born from his imagination—or so he thought.
Maybe he had really seen Bulma on multiple occasions. Maybe Piccolo really was trying to tell him something important. Perhaps Trunks had come to him several times to simply see how he was doing. Maybe. Maybe not.
Vegeta walked back in after another moment to check on Pan. He found that she had fallen asleep. Yet another nap. If she wasn't in the bathroom, she was asleep. Of course, somewhere in between he had forced her to eat something but it didn't stay down for long. She never ate very much which was very odd in her case. He knew without a doubt that something was wrong, but was it enough to take her to the doctors?
Coldness seemed to reverberate off her skin as he sat near her sleeping form. She was shivering very noticeably. He gently moved her closer to him so as not to wake her. His fingers ran through her hair almost as if it was a reaction to her close vicinity to him. After a while, her body stopped shivering and she woke up.
"Vegeta…?"
"That never happened before. Everyday, it seems, there's a new symptom."
"I've been thinking about what you said—maybe I should go to the doctors."
"Are you…agreeing with me?"
"Why's that so hard to believe? We agree on a lot of things, don't we?"
"Name one thing."
"Wait—now?"
"It shouldn't be that hard since we agree on so many things."
"I've got one. Don't we agree…that we love each other?"
Complete silence.
"Right?" Pan ventured.
"Love…is a strong word."
"What does that mean? I'm having your baby, Vegeta, is that all you can say?"
"Look, Pan—I'm taking you to the hospital. Right now."
He stood up so abruptly, with her in his arms, that she gave a quick yelp.
"You're flying me there?" Pan asked completely thrown off her other train of thought.
"How else?"
"Let me drive."
"Not in your condition."
"Then why can't you?"
Vegeta gave a short, rough laugh, "And you're serious about that. Maybe if I was going down a very straight road with no traffic lights or signs and no other cars were near—then maybe I could steer a car in one direction without falling into a ditch and that's only if the car is already traveling straight in the first place."
"I guess not. I never thought of it that way."
"Now you have. Before we waste anymore time—let's go."
Vegeta was outside in a second and was soon soaring very high and quickly across the sky.
"Pan, hey, Pan, we're here," Vegeta said when they reached the hospital.
He received little response from her and he rushed her to the emergency room. The doctors took her from him quickly and left him standing in the busy hallway—they wouldn't allow him to follow. Another doctor—perhaps a paramedic—needed to get some information out of him for Pan's current condition. As soon as Vegeta said that she was pregnant, the doctor was almost certain he knew what the problem was.
"We'll have to run some tests, but I'm fairly sure of the diagnosis."
"Which is?"
"Excessive morning sickness or what is formerly known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Do you know if she's having twins or not?"
"I only found out a couple of days ago that she was pregnant."
"This sort of thing is rare, but it can occur and usually in women who are likely to give birth to twins."
"You're saying Pan is not having one, but two all at once?"
It is worth noting that Saiyans were incapable of having twins—Saiyan twins did not exist. Every Saiyan had their own unique DNA. The very fact that Pan was more human than anything else overshadowed these incapabilites.
"Now, I'm not saying it's official, but it seems that way. Don't worry Mr…"
Vegeta thought for a moment—he didn't really have a last name as Saiyans never had a need for it, but he also had, at some point, gotten married to Bulma. Was he then Vegeta Briefs by default even though it wasn't exactly customary for the man to take on the woman's name?
"Just Vegeta," he said simply.
"Yes, well, Vegeta, there is no need to jump to conclusions—
"When can I see her?"
"Wait here in the waiting room and we'll come get you when the time is right. Are you family, Vegeta?
I might as well be. "No."
At the moment, he was nothing more than a boyfriend.
"Well then, you must be a really close friend to have come all this way by yourself without the assistance of an ambulance."
"A close friend? I'm the one who put her in this situation."
"Ah, so you're the boyfriend, huh. A little old, aren't we?" the doctor said with a playfully devious grin.
"Aren't you a little young to die?" Vegeta responded with an undeniably threatening tone.
Vegeta may not have seen the smirk, but he had caught the tone of his voice. The doctor stared back at him with bewilderment and almost ran off.
"Is that blindness of yours genetic? If it is, if she gives birth to sons then they will be blind—no exceptions."
"No, it's not genetic. It's was an accident I got into."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Vegeta turned from the doctor who was already getting on his last set of nerves and found a chair to sit in. In his excitement, he had forgotten to take his cane. He could already feel the stares he was getting. There was no way of telling exactly what expression the doctor had on his face.
"Well, are you going to stand there all day?" Vegeta asked gruffly, "Is there something else you need to know?"
"Uh…no, that will be all," said a startled doctor who had not realized that Vegeta knew he was still there.
Vegeta heard as the doctor's footsteps began to fade. He did not, however, see the fascinated look the doctor gave him when he looked back.
Vegeta hated to wait even if it wasn't all that long of one. Older people were supposed to be more patient, unfortunately, Vegeta never developed anymore in that department. Anytime someone so much as tapped their foot Vegeta's head came up as if he expected a nurse or a doctor to come in and call his name. Vegeta was aware of the stares he was getting from people even though he never acknowledged them. When a nurse came to tell him that it was alright to see Pan, the nurse offered to take him to the room. He could sense the pity and concern in her voice and Vegeta almost said 'no', but realized that he had to keep up appearances—it was bad enough that he didn't have a cane.
"Alright, take me," Vegeta ordered. A tinge of hopelessness had entered his voice.
"Take my hand. I won't let you run into anything, sir."
"Woman, will you just lead the way?" Vegeta asked hardly containing his annoyance.
"Yes, of course, sir."
The nurse had heels on so it was easier than usual to focus in on her gait. She had to have been young. Her voice said so and also the fact that she was bold enough to wear heels on a job where she stood up all day gave it away.
"A few paces ahead of you is a trash can, sir."
There was no response from Vegeta who had already noted its location. The vibration the floor made when his foot—or anyone's foot—made contact with the floor also transferred to whatever was in contact with the floor. When the vibrations had made its way up the trash can, a very low hollow sound had been emitted. A normal person would not have noticed, but Vegeta had. His ears were his eyes. With them, he could detect the basic forms of his environment and that included small obstacles like trash cans. Not only this, but he could smell his environment although it wasn't as reliable as hearing because not everything had a specific scent.
"Watch out for the door, sir. Oh, there's someone coming on your right. And—
"Enough, already. Don't waste your breath."
"I'm sorry, sir."
Vegeta could sense Pan's ki quite clearly and sensed as they got closer and closer to their destination. Halfway there, however, he felt Pan's ki getting further away.
"Are you sure, you're going the right way?"
"I think I got a little lost. Don't worry, I'll get you there."
"Try making a left this time."
"Oh, right—wait a minute…are you really blind?"
"Yes, now hurry up."
"Alright, sir."
Not only was she young, but also new. He wished she would move faster, but the heels slowed her down. What little patience he did have was nonexistent when they finally got to the right room.
"Here we are, sir," the young nurse said as she opened the door.
For only a moment, Vegeta stood motionless as his ears picked up on anything that moved. Immediately he heard the dripping of liquid, but it wasn't the faucet. When he moved closer to the hospital bed Pan was in, he knew she was resting. The dripping was closer now—it was an IV.
"There's an IV going into her left arm, sir, that's keeping her hydrated at the moment. She may have to be tube fed if her body does not respond well to this treatment."
She wasn't cold at least. Vegeta noted this when his hand found her small one. He felt warm blood pumping through her veins, the slight twitch of her index finger, a small fluctuation in her breathing.
"You can go now," Vegeta said plainly, this time successfully keeping the vehemence from his voice.
"Oh!" the nurse said surprised, "Well if you need any assistance, please press the button on the small remote, sir. Here, I'll show—
Vegeta held up the small remote for her to see.
"Oh, well, good job, sir," the nurse said happily.
The moment she said this was the moment Vegeta wanted to leap up and pound the poor nurse into the ground.
"Leave," he said instead.
The nurse caught the murderous intent in his voice and she walked very quickly out of the room in a sudden panic. When Vegeta was sure she was gone, he closed the door to the room.
He waited and waited for Pan to wake, but by midnight she was still asleep. Soon even Vegeta closed his eyes. Maybe tomorrow she would come to. It was the last thoughts he had before plunging into his dream world.
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AN: Alright, those who are reading, the next chapter is where things really start moving. About the Saiyans not having twins business, well that was completely made up by yours truly, I just thought it was interesting to add in. And yes, I did just a little research on the whole morning sickness thing—I didn't want to be coming up with some fake sickness that didn't make sense. I did get some reviews—that always makes my days so much brighter.
listenserendipity: Oh, don't worry, I get my ideas from other stories I've read before. I read that Kureeji story you were talking about. Wow, that is sooo M rated, but I liked. That person's on a whole different level than I am because my story is very T rated. Pan's more of a fighter and her Vegeta is little bit meaner and raw than mines, but that's probably because our plots are so different.
cheche_: Thank you. I'm glad you think so.
???: That's a great idea! I should put some Goku and Vegeta memories in this fic. I just have to figure out when and where. You'll probably like the next update. BTW, I don't usually write romantic fics in the first place.
