Sorry everyone! Things have gotten a little crazy lately. I'm not sure if the updates for this story will be happening as quickly as they were before, but Serradragon and I are still working on it!

Bulma gave a smile that didn't fully reach her eyes as she thanked her friends for coming to her birthday party at Capsule Corp. She just didn't feel like celebrating as much as she should, and she could see that her guests felt the same. The party had been going on for about an hour with everyone from the Z-fighters to their non fighting friends in attendance.

It had been a full year since Goku had left, and over half a year since Vegeta had left to follow him. She still had a hard time trying to get use to living without all of them especially Vegeta and her son Trunks. It has gotten very quite around the house with the two of them and Gohan.

A flash of green caught her eye, and Bulma looked over to see Piccolo chatting with Android 18. The two had formed a unique friendship over the past few months. A small smile formed on her lips as she watched the pair for a few minutes.

Piccolo had taken over as the main protector of Earth since he was the strongest out of the fighters, but it didn't look like that would be the case for too much longer.

Krillin had come to her to request a gravity chamber for his own. Apparently, the short man had done some thinking, and he decided to start training again with his wife to help the Namekan out should there be a significant threat.

The woman's blue eyes glanced over at the buffet table that was still mostly full once she was able to get away from her guests.

Well…almost everyone.

"Bulma…" A deep yet timid voice drew the blue eyed woman from her thoughts. She looked up at the large form of the Ox King with a raised brow. "Has there been any news on Gohan or the others?"

"No, there hasn't." Bulma sighed as she crossed an arm over her purple dress to support her other one as it came to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Like I told you last week, I haven't heard from Gohan since he last told me that they had entered the solar system where Vegetasei is."

"I'm sorry I keep bothering you, Bulma." The large man said hesitantly. "I just…I really need to speak with him. It's important. So could you let me know as soon as you hear something?"

"Ox, what is it that can't wait until he gets back?" Bulma asked in exasperation. "He's been gone almost a year since he left, and you've pestered me for months without telling me what you actually want. I don't have the faintest idea when he's going to come home or if he plans to at all." The older woman shouted with tears in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Bulma?" Krillin asked coming over with Eighteen.

"No, I'm not okay!" She screamed as everything finally came crashing down. "I haven't seen my son in almost a year. Half my family members are basically off planet, and none of them are any closer to coming back and to top it off they missed my birthday!"

"We miss them too, Bulma." Krillin tried to soothe. "You know they'll come home eventually. Remember when we were all younger, we had to wait four years to see Goku after the mess with King Piccolo."

"I don't think that's helping, honey." The blond whispered in her husband's ear when Bulma began crying again.

"What he's trying to say is that Goku always comes back. We'll see him again and Vegeta and the boys." Piccolo finished.

"Yeah, they'll probably show up when we least expect it." Krillin tried again trying to cheer her up. The namekian and other fighters blinked feeling a familiar surge of ki and looked to the left just in time to see Goku and the others materialize from thin air.

Vegeta touched his forehead to his mate's when they felt the familiar atmosphere of Earth. Goku gave a soft smile as he quickly took his cub and checked him over, worried about how IT could have affected someone so young.

"Goku!?" The blue haired woman shouted in shock attracting everyone's attention. Kakarot tensed at the voice and looked over in surprise as did everyone else. There was a moment of stunned silence when everyone was looking at each other.

"MOM!" Trunks laughed as he flew over and jumped into the stunned woman's arms. His exclamation broke the stillness and pandemonium exploded in a rush of different shouts with some people happy to see the saiyans while others looked ready to get in a fight.

"Goku!"

"-what are you doing-!"

"-be dead-!"

"-not green man-!"

"-why did-!"

"-could you-!"

"-looks just-!"

"-my son-!"

"SHUT UP!" Vegeta's voice rang out over the others' shouting. All eyes immediately looked in the prince's direction as he stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He took a moment to glare at everyone there. "Your caterwauling is upsetting my cubs."

The crowd blinked and finally noticed that Goku was behind the older saiyan with Vegito in his arms and Goten fisting the charcoal gray pants as he hid behind the beta's legs. The baby was whimpering as he looked around with his tiny hands holding tight to the white kimono top his tama was wearing. Goku was doing his best to calm the boys as best he could while feeling extremely anxious himself.

Murmurs that resembled apologies sounded from the assembly. The dominant narrowed his eyes at the bowed heads until he was satisfied.

"Good. Now…" Vegeta gestured to the side where all the saiyans still stood. "Everyone here means no harm so don't kill each other, and Raditz, don't antagonize anyone."

"What makes you think I'll do that?!" The longhaired alpha shouted at the prince as he took a few steps closer the shorter man. Vegeta stepped up to meet the other's glare.

"Because I know you, hairball! These are Karo's friends and family as well! Keep that in mind."

"The last time you were here you kidnapped Gohan and killed Goku, of course we don't trust you!" Krillin spat. "And you threw me through a wall with your tail." Bardock glared at his eldest.

"Hey, I apologized to Kakarot for that!"

Bulma was drug over to Goku by her enthusiastic son while Bardock began yelling at Raditz. Goku looked up from his cubs and saw his long time friend.

"Hey, you big lug." She said as she got all misty eyed. Goku smiled and pulled the blue haired woman close with a purr. Vegito giggled and reached out for her hair, his little tail was swaying happily.

"Oh my god he's so cute! What's his name?" The beta frowned and gave a pleading look to the others.

"That's Vegito." Goten chimed in as he let go of his tama.

"Hey you're being awfully quiet Goku, you ok?" Krillin asked. Bardock and Vegeta tensed and smelled the spike of fear come off Kakarot with the question. Bulma was close enough to see Goku freeze up.

"Tama got hurt." Goten said tugging Bulma's hand to get her attention.

"He can't talk anymore, so we came back here to see if you or Dende could fix Tama's voice." Trunks finished.

"Tama?" Krillin asked confused.

"They mean dad." Gohan chimed in. "It's a saiyan term for betas like mom or dad."

"They picked up on the term while Kakarot was pregnant." Tarble said drawing their attention to him. "My name is Tarble, I'm Vegeta's younger brother. It's nice to meet you."

"You have a brother!" Yamcha shouted as the others looked on in shock. "Since when!?"

"Since before Kakarot was born, idiot." Vegeta growled. "Until Vegito, Kakarot was the youngest full saiyan. Our father sent Tarble away to protect him from Frieza and until we returned to Vegetasei I didn't know what had happened to him. Personally, my brother was none of your business."

"Since when do you go by Kakarot?" Bulma asked out of curiosity. Goku blushed a bit and flicked his eyes at Bardock and Vegeta since he couldn't answer.

"Since his name is Kakarot." The oldest saiyan growled defensively.

"But he hated being called that." Krillin wondered aloud. "At least he did when the other saiyan's we've fought used it. Speaking of why do so many saiyans look like you anyways Goku?" The beta gave a silent laugh and shrugged.

"It would be more accurate to ask why so many saiyans look like our father." Raditz chimed in. It took a second for his words to sink in.

"Wait-"

"You're his father!" Bulma interrupted the namekian.

"Did you think he just appeared one day?" Bardock asked with a raised eyebrow. "He's my youngest cub with my mate Gine."

"Sorry, it's just a little hard to wrap my head around it." Bulma apologized. "My name's Bulma. It's nice to meet you, I've known Goku since we were kids."

"I've heard a lot about you. Goten and Trunks both go on about how you have "magic pods"." He said as the group finally calmed enough to make their way inside. Gohan appeared to be introducing Tarble to Piccolo. Raditz and Yamcha were still glaring and trying to butt heads but Tien, Krillin, and Vegeta seemed to be keeping the peace.

Goku settled at a table and was letting Vegito play with his tail while the cubs raided the buffet table. Vegeta and Bardock sat beside Goku while Bulma and the others sat across the table or nearby.

"So what's this about you getting hurt?" Krillin asked. "How'd you lose your voice anyways?"

"He probably lost it screaming as he powered up." Yamcha chuckled. Goku whined and deflated a bit while Bardock snarled as Vegeta tightly gripped the older male's arm to keep him from lunging over the table to kill the idiot.

"Shut your mouth." Vegeta growled. Bulma saw red and slapped the long haired human making him fall to the concrete ground with a bright red handprint on his face.

"That wasn't funny." Gohan snapped. Piccolo nodded as he glared at the human.

"You don't know what happened to him, so keep your mouth shut." Raditz snarled in the direction of the other male as he moved to place a comforting hand on his little brother's shoulder.

Yamcha whimpered as he moved to sit on the ground while he held a hand to his face. Fortunately for his continued existence, the former bandit nodded and kept his mouth shut.

Vegeta gave the human one more final glare after he managed to wrestle Bardock back into his seat to make sure the message sank in his head. The prince pulled out a data disk that had the woman's eyebrow raising.

Goku tensed as soon as he saw the orange piece of plastic and gave his mate a pleading look as he shook his head. The alpha placed a hand on the back of the submissive's neck, and pulled him close so he could whisper to the younger man.

"Karo, these are your friends. They won't think less of you, I promise. Bulma needs to know what happened so she can help you." Vegeta whispered in a low voice. He sounded so confident that Goku couldn't help but believe in his words. He pulled back and grasped on of the prince's hands on his own with a nod.

"Kakarot was taken a few months ago by a woman that was rivals with Frieza." Several horrified gasps interrupted Vegeta, but he paid them no mind. "He was injected with something that paralyzed his vocal cords, and the technology we have can't reverse the effects." He handed the disk over to the blue haired woman. "This has everything that's been done to him, and his most recent scans. We were hoping you could help him."

Bulma just stared at the disk before looking up at her long time friend who was avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room with him. Her blue eyes could see the tension in his body that was smaller than she ever remembered, and she narrowed her eyes at the uncharacteristically subdued manner Goku had.

Her brilliant mind was running through many scenarios that could have produce this type of behavior. She instantly came to a conclusion that had tears gathering in her eyes and her hands moving to cover her mouth.

Just the thought of the boy she befriended so long ago going through what she was imagining broke her heart, but a look of determination replaced her previous expression. Bulma got to her feet and marched over to snatch the disk from Vegeta's hand.

"Of course I'll be able to help!" She snapped at the prince making the saiyan smirk at the fire burning in her eyes and drawing all the attention to her. "You should've brought him here sooner! What were you thinking, you moron!?"

Her shouting had almost everyone in the room shifting away from her as she glared at the saiyan prince. Almost instantly, this made something in Vegeta stir, and he narrowed his eyes at Bulma.

"Who are you calling a moron, woman?! It was my idea to bring him here!" His smirk grew wider at the look on her face. He had missed his former wife more than he realized. "You don't have the technology we have! Compared to Vegetasei, this planet is in the Stone Age!"

"Oh really? Then why hasn't your precious technology cured him, huh?!" Bulma crossed her arms over her chest with a smug look on her face. "That's because you don't have the greatest mind in the universe! Me!"

Goku flinched a bit when Bulma came over and tugged on his arm for him to follow her. His eyes met her smiling face, and that made the beta blink a couple of times in confusion. The blue haired woman looped her arm with the saiyan's, and she started to head in the direction of her lab.

"Come on, Goku. I'll have you fixed up in no time! Oh! Did little Vegito like the toys I sent?" Her voice drifted off as they walked further in the building.

The group just stared in the direction Bulma and Goku left in with different expressions on their faces. After a couple minutes of silence, Bardock finally managed to get his wits back.

"Is she always like that?"

"Every single day."

"Shhh!" Vegeta turned to where the cubs were shushing something gaining the attention of the other adults.

"What are you two doing?" Vegeta demanded as his eyes narrowed.

"Nothing!"

"Just playing with grandpa's cat!" Trunks giggled as he shouted over Goten's excuse. "He must have missed me." Vegeta just raised an eyebrow at the cubs as they broke into more giggles at their chosen table.

Puar was floating by the boys' table with a worried look on her face as she glanced at the pale Yamcha that had yet to move from where he landed after Bulma smacked him. Just as she passed by, a rattling sound was heard making the cat turn around.

Black and white bodies launched from under the table with a playful growl as they tried to catch the shapeshifter.

"Miyu no! Bad Kiki!" Goten shouted as the small cubs ran after their pets that were chasing the floating cat.

"Ahhhh! Yamcha!" She cried out as she flew away from the panzaon pups.

"Why in Tarro's name did you bring those things!?" Raditz screamed. Vegeta grabbed the human that was fully intent on stoping the pups from eating his friend.

"What the hell, Vegeta, I need-"

"To think before you die." He stated bluntly. "Those creatures kill saiyans with a single bite. Think what it would do to you. Let the boys handle it."

"They won't bite, honest." Trunks said as they wandered over with the pups in their arms. "We'll go take them to my room though so they aren't-"

"Oh no you don't. You boys are so grounded." Bardock grabbed the cubs by the back of their shirts and held them up before they could make their escape. Trunks glared at Goten who was grinning sheepishly.

"This was your idea."

+++VK+++

"Aww! He's just adorable!" Bulma almost squealed as she made Vegito giggle by ruffling his bangs. She glanced up at Goku with a bright smile on her face. "I didn't thing you and Vegeta could ever make such a cute baby!"

The beta just silently laughed as he nodded his head. He thought his son was the cutest one he had ever seen and that included from when Gohan was an infant himself. Although…he could be considered to be a little bias.

The pair had finally arrived at the woman's lab, and they waited for Bulma's computer to upload the information Vegeta had given her. Being inside the room made Goku a little nervous, but he knew that his friend wouldn't do anything to him without his consent and best interest in mind.

"His development is amazing and he looks so young. He's only a few months old right?" The blue eyed woman marveled as the mahogany haired cub played with a couple of colorful rings that Goku gave him from the bag Tarble had brought along on the trip.

The submissive nodded and held up the number four after he shifted Vegito over to one arm. The stupefied expression that appeared on Bulma's face had the saiyan laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes. It was a look that he hadn't seen her make in years.

"Ta." The cub squealed as he handed one of the rings to the beta, one of his new favorite games. Goku just smiled and nuzzled the happy cub, ignorant of Bulma's watching as the baby giggled and purred.

"You're a great dad…tama….whatever you go by, Goku. I'm so glad you and Vegeta are happy together and that Trunks is so happy." He smiled softly and nodded unable to do anything else, however when the blue haired woman got a sad look on her face, the saiyan tilted his head in confusion. "Goku, why didn't you tell us, we could have helped you."

The beta bit his lip and looked down at the shiny floor. He really didn't have an answer for that, and he wished that he could try to explain to Bulma why he felt like he needed to leave. Unfortunately, even then Goku wasn't sure if he could articulate what he was feeling at the time.

Just then, an alarm went off at Bulma's computer making the pair drop the subject for the time being. The woman walked over and typed on the keyboard to sift through the data, and as she read further she became more tense.

The submissive was torn from comforting his friend and running out of the room once he saw tears spring in big blue eyes. He cringed and clenched his eyes shut once Bulma looked in his direction, and he tried to brace himself for the words he knew were coming.

'How weak are you for allowing this to happen? You're the strongest in the universe; you should have stopped this! You disgust me Goku! You deserved to have this happen to you.'

He hugged his cub close to his chest with a soft whine. This was why he didn't want to let her see that disk; this was why he didn't want to come back.

Goku was surprised when he felt warm arms wrap around his neck and tears wetting the shoulder of his top. He opened his eyes to see Bulma hugging him with her shoulders shaking with repressed sobs. Confused, the beta awkwardly put his free arm around his friend. He rubbed her back as he glanced as Vegito who was looking at the woman with curious eyes.

"Oh, Goku…" Bulma's voice cracked on his name after a few minutes of her crying. "How could anyone do that to you?"

Goku stiffened a bit at the question not fully understanding why she was asking that. The saiyan gently nudged Bulma's shoulder so he could look at her face, and he felt even more confused once he saw just how upset the woman was.

"I don't understand how she could do all those things to you. She treated you worse than a dog! Why would anyone do something like that to you? I'm so sorry, Goku. We should have never let Chi-Chi drive you away from us." Bulma broke down sobbing inconsolably. "You were like my little brother, and I couldn't keep any of these bad things from happening to you. I'm so sorry."

Goku whimpered and tried to make Bulma feel better as he purred and continued to rub her back. Eventually she calmed down and got them some tea before sitting down at the computer again.

"We're going to have a long talk once we get you better, Goku."