A new day - Chapter 10
An eventful morning
One day, during the long and seemingly everlasting period of being withdrawn from battle action, Tora and Bardock had decided together that it was high time for a good old night at the bar among best friends. If they weren't on a mission they often spent their free evenings together on this 'distraction' as they called it. They both stated they needed it to keep their mind sane and let off some steam. Because hey, conquering planets is a stressfull job, you know...
These evenings often consisted of drinking lots of beer, getting drunk, REALLY drunk, and sometimes picking up girls. Most of the time they ended up in bed with those girls, and if the level of alcohol in their blood would permit it, they mated.
This was one of those nights.
The two best friends had both brought another girl home to Bardock's place. With Tora and his fling in the other room, Bardock and his newfound lover for one night were going at it on his old, trusty mattress. He was pumping into her from behind, his left hand on her hip, and his right hand holding her tail firmly. He couldn't see her face this way but he didn't care, as long as he could have his way with her... Besides, her ecstatic moans were all he needed to keep him going. She was getting louder with each thrust and together with the sound of her voice, he could feel the tension building inside him. He needed release, and fast. Picking up his pace, he tugged harder on her tail.
"Ohh Bardock...! Yes !" The girl squealed.
Bardock in his turn groaned and let go of her tail, holding on to both her hips. "Gods, I'm gonna...!"
Right when he decided to grab onto hair on the back of her head, the girl looked over her shoulder, revealing Gine's face.
"I love you Bardock..."
That was enough to wake him from his dream. He shot up, panting heavily.
"Those damn nightmares..." He thought to himself, the sound of her voice still seemingly ringing in his ears.
Strangely, his body did not share his mind's opinion on those 'nightmares'. His arousal was pretty clear under the blanket. He got up quickly, and quietly made his way down the corridor to the bathroom, careful not to wake Tora and his possible mate. Much to his disgust, the bathroom was exactly where he found his best friend, with his head hanging down the toilet bowl. A gruesome sound coming from the latter made short work of the reason Bardock had come to the bathroom in the first place.
"Save me the trouble of having to drag your corpse out and don't die in my bathroom..." Bardock sneered.
"Ugh..." Tora groaned, looking up while he whiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well good morning to you too..." He said as he carefully got up from his knees.
"So where's last night's catch ?" Bardock went on before filling the sink with cold water and splashing some of it on his face.
"Oh...Uh...She already left. Not long after we came here..." Tora replied.
"Was it over that fast ? Damn, I know you're not one for marathons, but I thought you were better than that." Bardock couldn't help but laugh while he studied himself in the mirror. The wound on his cheek had healed up pretty good, but it did leave a big scar. Not that he cared.
"Hey, at least I get laid every now and then. You haven't had a single fling in months." Tora remarked, bumping his best friend's shoulder with his fist. "That's not like you at all bro..."
A sigh was Bardock's initial response. Tora probably wouldn't understand, but he went for it anyway. "I've got other things on my mind... With the team being suspended..."
"No. No, don't give me that crap. Don't bullshit the bullshitter. You've been different eversince you banged Gine." Tora looked down on Bardock now, who had sat down on the toilet bowl, burying his face in a towel. "You care for her..."
the troubled captain emitted a low growl. "I don't..." His voice sounded muffled because of the towel.
"You can't lie to me..." Tora said as he pulled the towel from Bardock's hands, practically forcing him to show his face. "We grew up together. You can't fool me."
Back in the living room, the sound of Bardock's scouter going off could be heard. Bardock himself saw that as an easy excuse to try and escape from this awkward conversation. He was feeling more and more uneasy by the second so as soon as he heard the beeping, he jumped up and paced back to where he came from in the first place. "I don't care for her, Tora...I never -"
His jaw dropped when he put on the scouter and read the message on the small green screen.
Hours earlier on that same morning at the birth clinic, Gine's wake up alarm had gone off. She got up, not noticing the slight pressure in her lower abdomen until she sat up on the edge of the bed. In the past night, she had been woken up a few times by that same pain. She thought it had subsided by now, but clearly, it hadn't. Raising her shirt to check the monitor on her belly, she noticed that the small blinking light in the center of it had gone from green to orange.
"I hope for your sake it's another false alarm, buddy...You know today is an important day." Gine sighed, talking to her big, rounded belly.
She had two false alarms so far in the past two weeks, but today the trial was being held. The one day she really couldn't afford to go into labour.
After getting up slowly, Gine got dressed, changed into her daytime attire from the birth clinic and waited for the head nurse to pick her up. She had agreed to accompany Gine to the palace, where the trial would be held, together with a guard. Just in case something would happen.
So not much later, the three of them were being brought to the palace in a special carriadge, since it was too exhausting now for Gine to fly.
When they stood in front of the door to the courtroom, the guard grabbed Gine's wrists and handcuffed her again.
"I'm sorry about this Gine..." The nurse started. "But we've been fair to you up until now. It's only normal that we follow the protocol again from here on out. We have to put these on you again while you're in there. After all, you're still a prisoner."
"I understand..." Gine nodded.
With a deep sigh and a roll of the eyes she underwent the rough handling by the guard. Couldn't he at least be a little more gentle ? She opened her mouth to say something about it to him but before she had the chance, the doors opened.
The guard pushed her forward, forcing her to enter the large courtroom. Even though she was nervous as hell by now, Gine couldn't help but think this was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been. The architecture would have been more fitting for a ballroom than the purpose it served now. It had a white, marble floor and the ceiling was high, with golden embellishments. The amount of detail in it was amazing.
The young Saiyan was so busy studying the ceiling as she walked, she almost didn't notice there were other people in the room, be it only a few. There were no spectators, except for one. Fasha. Seeing her made Gine's heart skip a beat.
Ofcourse she couldn't wave like she wanted to with the cuffs on, so all the troubled Saiyan could to was smile at her former teammate. A nervous, distorted smile. Fasha smiled back melancholicaly.
All the way in the front of the room was a short stairs with only a few steps, that led up to a throne. Seated on it was someone Gine had only heard of until now.
The woman sitting there was of short posture, but her regal appearance seemed to made one forget about that just by looking at her. To be honest she would have looked even more beautiful than she already was if she wasn't looking like she smelled something bad.
She had almond shaped eyes, her skin was an olive tone and she wore her long hair in a ponytail that was put up high on her head. Around her neck was the medaillon with the crest of the Saiyan royal family and she wore a red,
hooded cape, combined with a dark blue, loose fitted dress. Gine found the fact that the queen wasn't wearing armour a little odd, allthough she couldn't quite tell why. But looking more closely she noticed the reason for the absence of the armour. Eventhough Saiyan armour could expand to any size, the dress was probably meant to fit more comfortable since the bump that the fabric slightly showed around the queen's lower abdomen hinted that she too, was expecting. Again.
She sat there, legs crossed and hands folded as she stared Gine down.
Sitting at the queen's right was someone Gine did see before, General Nappa. Strangely enough, he had a kid sitting on his lap. A toddler, who had to be the young prince seeing how he strongely resembled his father,the king. Also, he wore the same medaillon the queen was wearing. The kid looked like he could use a nap, and honestly, so did Nappa.
Next to them sat three more men whom Gine had never seen before, but she figured they had to have an important military role too.
Standing with the guard next to her in front of a large bench at the front row, Gine waited until the queen gave them permission to sit down. She did hope the queen wouldn't make her wait too long. The pain in her belly still hadn't gone away yet. On the contrary, it was getting worse. It was starting to feel like very bad cramps, and it seemed they were coming more and more frequently.
So as soon as the queen signaled them all to sit down, Gine did so, and as she sat there, holding her belly with both hands and trying to breathe away the pain. She tried her best not to let anyone notice she was actually in a lot of pain.
"Right," the Queen started bluntly, her tone patronizing and strict. "Normally my husband does these kind of...things...but since he's occupied I'll be sentencing you today. In contrast to what he thinks, my time too, is precious. So let's get this over with quickly. When I ask you a question, I want you to answer it. Thruthfully. That is all."
Gine nodded. "Yes..."
The queen frowned. "Yes, who ? Manners please..."
"Yes, your Highness..."
"Much better...Now, you are Gine, formerly of the thirty-first division, am I right ?"
"That is correct, your Majesty." Again, Gine nodded, fiercely hoping this would all be over soon. She felt another cramp coming up. Soon, she wouldn't be able to hide her pain any longer.
"I was informed that you went against our military law by not keeping track of your fertility cycle, mated and by doing so, conceived a child in the process."
Gine answered, gritting her teeth and barely able to hold back a groan. "Well I guess the evidence speaks for itself..." In this state she found it was almost impossible to answer calm and politely.
"Watch your tone, you low-class scum ! And remember the position you're in here !" The queen sneered as she stood up from her throne. "Is it true that you refuse to tell anyone who the father of your child is ?"
"I...I don't...knooowww AHH !"
"You insulent little...! Who do you think you are, adressing ME in such a tone ?" The queen came down the stairs and paced towards Gine "You don't know...What else could one expect from peasants like -"
Th queen halted right in front of Gine, but stopped mid-sentence as soon as she felt herself stepping into something wet. "Did you just..."
"I...I'm sorry..." Gine muttered.
Ofcourse noticing all the commotion right away, the nurse, who had been sitting one bench behind Gine and the guard, jumped up immediately to check on her. "Great gods, her water broke ! I'm sorry your majesty but this can't wait..."
"I don't understand why you let her come here in this state in the first place. What are you waiting for, get her to a guest room, NOW !" The queen ordered both the guard and the nurse. And as they carried Gine out, she continued towards their backs : "Don't think this changes anything ! I will still pass your sentence as soon as you're done with...that !"
As fast as they could, Gine was brought to the nearest guest room and put down on the large and comfy bed. The nurse examined and readied her and as she got into position between Gine's legs, she tried to comfort her. "You're gonna have your baby now, Gine. Everything will be okay if you just do as I say. When I say 'push', you push. Okay ?"
"No ! No I can't !" Gine panicked, shaking her head. "I'll die like Cress !"
"You won't, that was a totally different situation- !"
"I CAN'T DO IT ALONE !" Gine screamed.
"You're not alone !" A different voice sounded and suddenly someone grabbed Gine's hand. Apparently, Fasha had followed them, quiet as a mouse, and sneaked into the makeshift delivery room.
"Fasha !" Gine's eyes widened at the sight of her teammate. Her presence lit up a small flame in Gine's stomach. The fire gave her back some long lost courage.
"Come on little fish, you can do this...Give it all you got !" Fasha winked as she gave Gine's had a supportive squeeze. "You can squeeze into mine as hard as you can !"
"Uhm...I don't wanna interrupt your cozy get-together here, but you're still giving birth here, Gine ! It's time to push ! One, two...!" The nurse yelled.
And at three, Gine pushed as hard as she could. Biting her teeth so hard, she thought they would break at some point. And after about twenty minutes of hard work... A loud, healthy cry as heard.
"Congratulations...It's a boy !" the nurse declared as she cut the umbilical cord.
An exhausted Gine smiled. "I already knew..." She brought out as the nurse presented the boy to her. Gine took him in her arms, carefully. "Hello there..."
The baby was still covered in blood, wriggling and squealing, but immediately calmed down upon hearing the familiar voice of his mother.
Fasha chuckled as she observed the both of them. "Would you look at that...Congrats, mom... He's got your hair."
"He sure does..." The new mother confirmed, turning to her friend, giving her a meaningful look. "Uhm...Fasha...?"
And just looking at Gine's face, Fasha knew enough. "I'll let him know, right away. I'll give you both some rest now." She nodded and got up from the bed, already activating her scouter on the way out of the room.
About a minute after Fasha left, the head nurse took the baby from Gine's arms to tend to him. After she cleaned him up and gave him back to his mommy, she left them to rest. But not much later, someone knocked on the door again.
Without waiting for Gine's answer, the queen entered the room. Without even looking at the newborn, she explained what she came in for.
"In consultation with the jury we've decided on a sentence for you."
"Y-yes...?" Gine replied with a shaky voice.
"You must know what you did equals desertion. One of the worst crimes possible, in our society... Therefore we found that you must suffer severe consequences. The punishment must always equal the crime and that is why you will be ex-"
Right when the queen was about to pass her sentence, a royal guard came "Your majesty ?"
"Not now Zorn, I'm busy !"
"But your majesty, someone wants to see you. He says it's urgent."
"This better be good !" the monarch grumbled as she marched out the room.
Gine sighed as she watched the door close again. "Looks like it's just you and me for now... I think I know what she was gonna say..." she whispered as she softly stroked the baby's nose with the tip of her index finger. "But I won't let anything happen to you... You know that..."
When her fingertip touched his mouth, the little boy instinctively responded by sucking on it.
"Already hungry, huh ?" Gine snickered. "Well, let's see what we can do about that...This can't be too hard...You and I gotta help eachother out, since we're both new to this..."
She smiled widely. Gine knew how silly she sounded, talking to a newborn baby. But she couldn't care less. For the first time in months, she felt almost perfectly happy. Almost. And she wanted to enjoy every second of it, for as long as it lasted.
The dreamy smile remained around her lips as she watched him suckle. It was amazing to see how hungry such a tiny, newborn baby could be, and drink so eagerly.
"My little Raditz..."