Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball/Z/GT.

Take It Back

"Keep your hands up."

"Yes, sir."

"Light on your feet."

"Right."

"Sokka, hands up."

"Yes."

"Are you listening?"

"Uh-huh, got it."

"Sokka."

"Okay, Grampa."

"Sokka."

She stopped, looking up to meet the eyes of her grandfather at last. Vegeta stood with his arms crossed and brows creased, looking stern as he so often did. However, it was a look he usually reserved for dealing with his children, or Goku, or even Sokka's cousins. It was a look of contempt or irritation or displeasure, depending on the target, but today it was disappointment and it was aimed right at his ten year old granddaughter. Her arms fell to her side and she slid out of her fighting stance, choosing instead to stare at the floor; perhaps if she looked as bad as she felt, he would go easy on her.

"What is it?" he snapped. When she remained silent, his gaze grew colder – even in his old age, the crown prince was not a patient man. "Child, I can almost smell the guilt radiating off of you. Now, tell me what is distracting you so it can be dealt with, or clear your head and let's continue."

"I'm sorry, Grampa," Sokka muttered, digging her toe into the tile of his capsule. "I'll focus. I want to keep training."

She thought he exhaled steam from his nose before he stomped to the center console and slapped a red button (perhaps a bit harder than was necessary). The light brightened and the strain eased noticeably. The digital screen changed from 3G to 1G. Sokka ran forward and grabbed the sleeve of his white t-shirt.

"No, Grampa, please, I'll stay focused, I'm sorry, I know you say distractions are your first enemy and you're right, I wasn't paying attention, but please don't end it early, please, Mom will know something's wrong and -"

"Your mother?" Vegeta asked, finally betraying some emotion other than consternation. Sokka felt herself shrink back on her heels. "So whatever it is, you don't want her to know about it. Now you have to tell me."

She tried pleading with her face, but he wasn't going to give in easily. "Please, Gramps," she tried the nickname only she was allowed to use, but it only made him raise an eyebrow. "Please?"

Vegeta sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head, before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her downstairs, to the living area that had been converted into her grandfather's home. It smelled lived in, the musky scent of Vegeta's sweat mixed with a soap that smelled too luxurious for a man of his lifestyle to purchase for himself. Sokka caught the smell of last night's dinner, leftovers from the meal her aunt had cooked, as well as hints of the meringue cookies she'd baked (and burned) a few days ago. Her grandpa pulled out one of the spindly chairs at his minimalist table and motioned for her to sit while he engrossed himself in his fridge. There was very little food for a Saiyan household, but he procured two bottles of water and set one in front of her.

"I would rather talk in the garden," he groaned as he eased himself into the opposite chair. "However, seeing as there is some secret-" he spat the word, "to be kept, we shall talk here. So, as Earthlings say, out with it."

Sokka stared hard at the faux-granite tabletop, hoping for an answer, an escape, an excuse…and found only her small voice answering, "I went to see my father." Vegeta choked on his water, spraying her. "Ew, Grampa."

"Sorry," he choked. "You what?"

She sighed. "I was in Mom's closet looking for my nunchucks because I want to show off my skills for the talent show and auditions are next week, but while I was trying to find them I found this, like, old box full of notes and letters and pictures and I found one that was post-dated from a few years ago, except there wasn't a letter or anything inside the envelope, it was just an empty envelope with the address in the corner. I didn't know Dad's last name, I just knew it was Jon or Jake or Jim or-"

"Joseph," Vegeta interrupted, staring hard. Sokka nodded.

"Yeah, exactly, so I figured that a Joseph in West City secretly writing a letter to my mom that she didn't keep had to be my dad, so I looked up the address on the internet and it was still registered to Joseph Whatever-his-last-name, and the streetview picture showed me what the house looked like and I knew kind of what neighborhood it was in, so I skipped my last class and flew there to see...if…."

Her grandfather was watching intently, not judgmentally. He didn't seem angry, nor confused, only like he was listening to her ramble as she had hundreds of times before. His hand lifted, motioned for her to continue, but she wasn't sure what to say.

"Anyways, I got there okay, got a little confused because I was using driving instructions since there's no 'flying' option on GPS, and there was a car in the driveway. I wasn't going to knock even, I was just looking, I didn't even think this was my dad, maybe just another one of Mom's ex-boyfriends, except the door opened while I was standing in the yard and I was looking at him, Joseph. He looked exactly like Mom described Dad, even had the scar on his eyebrow. But he was standing there, just staring at me like he knew who I was, and then…."

Her vision blurred and she wiped angrily at her eyes. This only caused a stray tear to land noisily on the table. She sniffed and the sound was deafening. Something rough touched her hand and she gripped her grandfather's fingers as tight as she could. Sokka felt hot tears on her cheeks and didn't bother to stop them this time.

"He went inside! He turned on his heel and ran inside like a damn coward! I knocked and he said, 'Go away, we don't want any' and locked his friggin' door, Grampa, like I was a salesman or a Witness or something, like I was selling cookies or magazine subscriptions!"

Vegeta made a horrible, strangled noise and for the first time in a while, Sokka looked up. He hand a hand over his mouth, but the lines at the corners of his eyes gave away his laughter. His muffled guffaws made her feel better, like her anger was justified and like he thought about as highly of "Joseph" as she did.

"It's not funny, Gramps," she tried sounding angry, but they knew she couldn't be angry with him. He grabbed her other arm and gently pulled her toward him, into his lap like he had since she was a baby. She curled up and rested her head on his shoulder, letting her tears dampen his shirt.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," he said with absolutely no sincerity. His free hand dug through her hair at the scalp like he did with his own, an act only she allowed him to do, that only he was allowed to do. "I had hoped you would not have to learn this lesson until you were a bit older, but not all lessons come to us when we should like."

She swallowed thickly. "What lesson?"

"That the most painful wounds do not come from battles, or the deepest scars from weapons or ki." Sokka nuzzled her head into her grandfather's chest, doing her best to ignore her tears. He continued to stroke her hair and rocked her slightly until she slipped quietly into oblivion.

"Honey, will you please take out the trash? I'm almost done with the dishes, we can go to bed after that."

"Sure thing babe, I'll be right back."

The front door opened to reveal a tall, broad shouldered figure hauling an overstuffed trash bag that was a few minutes of strain away from busting, by the sound of it. He stomped towards the road that wound through the peaceful suburban neighborhood, where his garbage can waited by the curb for the truck that came at 7:15am every morning, shortly after the school bus came and went. The man carrying the bag couldn't hear the minute tears from the broken glass his son had tried to hide, but the silhouette standing against painted picket fence could.

"Joseph."

He froze, looking up for the first time since stepping outside. His heart rate accelerated, but he held his ground.

"Hello, your Highness," Joseph spat, putting as much venom as he could on the word. Vegeta rolled his eyes. They stood in silence for a moment, staring each other down. Joseph broke first. "Look, I know I didn't handle the kid well-"

"That's an understatement," Vegeta snapped.

"She caught me off guard," he continued. "Lacy was on the way back with Brinn and Max and I couldn't risk them finding out-"

"About the life you had committed yourself to before them?" At last Vegeta moved, uncrossing his arms and advancing. "That you spawned a child that you weren't prepared to take care of and chose to abandon? That you loved a beautiful, smart young woman because she came from a trust fund and had a wild secret that felt fun and adventurous at the time? That at one point you called an alien prince 'Dad' and convinced him he could trust you with the most precious thing in his life?" He bared his teeth. "Or perhaps you didn't want them to know what a piece of shit you really are?"

For a moment, Joseph looked angry, like he would try to take it to blows or use his height to tower over the Saiyan. Instead, he sighed and hung his head.

"Look, I'm sorry things didn't work out with me and Bulla, but I have a life now."

Vegeta advanced. "Things didn't work out with you and Bulla because you weren't ready for the responsibility of fatherhood, and your daughter has suffered because of it." Joseph opened his mouth to retort. Vegeta moved too fast for the human to see, and then his dark eyes and white gloves were in his face, finger inches from Joseph's nose. He had seen the power and destruction Vegeta was capable of; he didn't move.

"My daughter has suffered raising a child by herself, but she has done a wonderful job. Sokka – that is her name, Sokka Briefs, not that you care – is a powerful, intelligent, wonderful little girl that sought you out, and you should feel honored that she even bothered to learn your name. That's all she wanted, you imbecile, to know you, to know who her father was. But you slammed the door in her face and sent her off like she was worth nothing." Joseph visibly wilted, but it only made the prince angrier.

"I held your daughter while she cried today, Joseph, because you told her to 'go away.'"

Joseph looked away. For once, Vegeta saw a small resemblance between the man and his granddaughter and hated him a little more. "Please, Vegeta, tell her I'm sorry." The prince scoffed. "I mean it, explain everything and tell her I didn't intend to hurt her, I panicked. I'm sorry."

Vegeta snarled. "Yes, you are." Without another word, the Saiyan Prince, Grandfather Supreme, turned on his heel and vanished into the dark. Joseph sighed a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and his trash bag split.

A/N: Hello! I'm terribly sorry for the long, unannounced absence. I lost a few years there in a drunken haze, then a few stints of homelessness, two fried computers (and many lost chapters), and a desperate last ditch effort to graduate college. So, I'm very appreciative for everyone's continued support and kind words. Your reviews reminded me to get my ass in gear and get some writing fucking DONE. So, next will be Play Dead, and I hope it will live up to your expectations. Just know that I love all of you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 3