Thank you all for waiting soooo long for me to update. And sorry if it is a little choppy.
Chapter 8:
Discoveries
By the end of her first week in her new home Kakarot was tired, but satisfied. The place had great potential, the rundown heap. When the King had said they hadn't been to the property in some years he probably meant decades.
The repairs needed were extensive: the ivy was over running the place, weeds everywhere, the grass was knew high, the moat was polluted with garbage, and then there was the castle itself. It seemed it was being held up by the ivy. Half the walls were crumbling, roofs were caving in, windows non-existent, and dust covered every nook and cranny.
After the first two days Kakarot and Turles knew the layout of most of the castle, or manor as they called it. Turles had said he came to help her get settled, but she knew it because he will be leaving soon. He hadn't told her yet but she knew he had been thinking about it. Though the images were cloudy, his thoughts were quick to disappear when she tried to invade.
On their third day there people started to arrive and decided to stay once they learned who she was; the new Duchess of Dial, the new landlady. They were all happy and excited to have a protector again. Soon every tenant was living in or near the manor; each close enough to help with repairs.
By the end of the second week Turles had to leave. He had been called to duty by the King as an ambassador. The farewell was hard for Kakarot due to the strains the pull to talk to him telepathically would have on them. He was to be gone for a projected 3-5 years and be light years away. Just the thought of him being away for so long made her heart ache. Though she would miss him, not his meddling so much.
Before he left they had had a nice long dinner, that neither of had eaten very much of, and they talked well into the night. She remembered they way they had said goodbye and him knowing her secret.
FLASHBACK
They had been sitting in an easy silence when Kakarot broke the silence, "so you leave…"
"Tomorrow" he answered.
"oh." She had been trying to keep the tears at bay.
While pulling her into a hug he said, "I'll be able to talk over the video cam once I arrive to the appointed planet. It's not like I'm dropping off the face of the galaxy."
"Let's not talk about it, but just enjoy the rest of the time we have together."
"Sounds good."
He had smiled wide as if to let her know he was not overly upset about his departure. But as Kakarot was about to walk into her rooms he had pulled her into a tight hug and held her for a long while. He had pulled in a deep breath as in trying to remember her scent. She had done the same. She smiled now thinking about it because being so close you would think one more sniff won't make a difference. But to them it had; one last exposure made the moment real.
Their goodbye outside the manor was more subdued and very Saiyan; he waved and she waved back. And that was it.
END FLASHBACK
You know how it only takes one person to spread a rumor, but only the person it's about who can stop it, well Kakarot was neither. She wanted to keep her secret but meddlers just couldn't stop what they did and that was meddling.
FLASHBACK
"I got a favor to ask of you."
"shoot." She had been making a list of more repairs and cleaning to be done.
"There's this woman I know…"
"Oh" she was giving him a cheeky grin made to irritate him.
"…who needs a good home for her and her son." He had continued as if he didn't hear or see her.
"Oh, Turles you didn't?"
"What? No! She's not… he's not… mine! Puar is a friends mate and just needs help." At first he had been slow and stuttering, and ended in a rush as if it would convince her that the woman and boy were important but not linked to him. Boy do I like riling him up.
"Oh," was all she replied.
"YES! Geez I would've had to been ten to be his dad." He was shaking his head, still not realizing she was pushing one of his buttons. Then he laughed because it hit him she was. "You," he said pointing at her, "let me explain." Of course it's a lie, he thought. "Her father wants her to re-mate, but she still holds the hope that her mate will return one day. She still deeply loves him, but her father has plans to force her. She needs a place to go where she can wait, even if that means the rest of her life."
"It must be that Saiyan stubbornness we all have," she said mostly to herself.
"And the boy needs more playmates his own age."
"You don't have to convince me any more I'll hire her as a lady's maid."
He had scooped her up while saying, "excellent. I'll send off a note and she'll be here before I leave."
Puar had shown up only three days before Turles was to leave. The two women had hit it off right away; like Kakarot to Lisa. It pulled at Kakarots heart the way Puar had talked about her lost mate and how she still believed him to be alive. It was how Kakarot felt at times about Vegeta. She still felt deeply for him and always wanting him near, but at the same time was still hurting from his rejection. The friendship grew on the basis that each had lost a love because of honor; Puar her mans honor to fight for the King and Kakarot on honoring her self-respect.
It was during those first few days that Puar had relieved Kakarot. She had been feeling poorly for the past week when only days earlier she had been fine. When Puar had asked her new lady to explain the symptoms and was told that: first thing after breakfast there would be a sudden fall in her ki and then it would shoot up, then that escalated to vomiting and dizziness. And when asked if she was dying, the maid had laughed. Her reply was, "babies liked to disrupt their mommies, even from the womb."
It had taken Kakarot a while to absorb what had been said. She had sat in the closest chair, put her head between her knees, and tried not to faint. I am made of stronger stuff yet a baby will lay me low, she had thought.
"You didn't know?" Puar asked seeing her mistresses pale complexion.
"I haven't paid it any attention. With as busy as I've been, the keeping track slipped my mind." Kakarot placed her hand on her flat stomach. "I should have realized it could have been possible."
"And the father?" oh no, thought Kakarot, I'll never be free if he finds out.
"He will NOT be involved in our lives. He had his chance and he spurned me." Even with the displacement of her ki her hair flicked to gold and back. "My lady?" this was the first time Puar had seen her lady thus and it frightened and intrigued her. Kakarot took three calming breath and then lifted her head to look at her friend. "You must promise to not mention my pregnancy to anyone."
"But the father…"
"Will have no say in this child's life." Kakarots eyes were like ice and her chin as frigid as steel.
"If I could have told Jules' father I would have. But I never got the chance. By the time I knew word had come he had fallen in battle. What of this child's father does he not deserve to know?"
"No and that is final." He voice broached no denial.
Puar knew she was going to go nowhere at this point so threw up her hands and said, "oh the stubbornness." And then she smiled.
"So is that a yes to silence?"
"yes." Puar had thrown her arms around Kakarot and hugged her close.
"Thank you. Especially with having Turles leaving soon. There's no need for him to worry about me while he'd gone and doing important stuff."
"He'll worry anyway, men always do."
It was only a few hours later that Turles had pointedly confronted her about her discovery and asked her the final favor.
He had just told her to use her instincts pointing to her heart to know if he would be okay, and then said, "I want you to take care of that kid." His finger had moved from her heart to her stomach. Her hand had flown over the space as to protect it.
"How…? I just realized. How did you…?" once she was the one to stutter.
"I know your ki signal and it's been whacky for the few weeks we've been here."
"Are you angry with me?" please don't be, I couldn't bear it. And so much for trying to hid it from him. She ducked her head so her eyes were downcast and she wouldn't have to look at him.
Turles got up, moved to kneel before her chair, grabs her chin and lifts her face to meet her eyes. "You, never. But with the prince, yes. How could he throw you away like that?"
She had told him she left him and that she was not going to be telling the prince about the baby. There followed his argument about the first born looking like the father and that royal eye color would be hard to miss. And she told him that all she wanted was for the kid to have a semi normal first years before she told Vegeta.
Turles had left it at that.
END FLASHBACK
By the third week repairs were on their way. Men had been working hard to move rubble and then restack it as the new walls. Young men climbed up ladders or flew up (depending on age) to the roofs to lay new shingles. Women of all ages started to clear the dust one room at a time while others started weeding the grounds. The space where windows belonged would stay empty until the new, expensive ones were delivered.
Since discovery about her condition Kakarot noticed children a lot more. There were children of all ages now playing in the newly cut grass. One little boy was Puar's son and after the first shy day he was the braver of the boys. Five others of the group were orphans, and with no one to look after them Kakarot had taken them in and claimed them as her own. A Saiyan child with no guidance or love was a lost child. And a lost Saiyan was something Kakarot did not like. No Saiyan should be left behind.
It was this thought that kept playing in her mind as she traveled to the royal castle. Now here she was only a few days from being in close proximity to the father of her baby. She still had no idea how she was going to keep him out of their lives, if she even wanted it.
She prayed the child was a girl, and then maybe he may not want anything to do with her. If the child were a boy, whether bastard or legitimate, he would be the heir to the throne. And there is no way to hide a child that looked like the King for very long. Will I be the one left behind in my child's life if Vegeta found him? Again she prayed no one discovered and that she would have a girl.
