Disclaimer; You know the drill, no one on Fanfiction owns Dragon Ball Z ok.
A/N' Thank-you to everyone who reviewed chapter 6 and to Juu-Chan 2002 who was the only one to review chapter 5. I don't know if you guys noticed but chapter 2 seems to have gotten mixed up with the default chapter. I don't know how it happened but does anyone know how to fix it? ~Deadly Beauty
A Helping Hand
Chapter 7
"Krillen you have paint all over your face" exclaimed 18, she was trying not to laugh she didn't want to stuff up the paint job when they were so close to finishing. Krillen looked at her slyly then swiped his paintbrush at her cheek.
"So do you". 18 gasped and touched the wet paint on her face. "I was trying to stay clean Krillen" she said. Krillen laughed and rested his paintbrush on the plastic that was on the floor.
"It smells in here" said 18. Krillen got up and opened the window to let the ocean breeze in. 18 put her brush down to and leaned against a part of the wall that had already dried, they'd been painting the baby's room for close to two weeks now, but it was worth it. The old coat of paint had really looked ugly. It was faded and had a few dirty marks in places and just looked yuck. They had decided to paint around the door and window a light green and it really looked nice. They just had one more section of wall to paint and then they were done.
"Hey 18" said Krillen.
"Yeah"
"Have you thought about names?" asked Krillen. "I mean the baby's gonna be born in 3 months".
"I guess I haven't really thought about any of that sort of stuff," replied 18 "I've had a lot on my mind lately".
"What about the delivery?" asked Krillen. 18 looked up at him. "What about it?"
"Well are you going to the hospital, or should we ask Bulma to come here or what?" 18 was quiet while she thought about it.
"I think we'll ask Bulma to help out" she said. "Now I have a question for you".
"Ask away" said Krillen.
"Why do you have a picture of me in your room?". Krillen felt himself go red.
"Well why not, it's not like it's illegal" he said.
"But I want to know why" said 18
"Because I think it's a really nice picture and it makes me feel happy when I look at it" said Krillen. He had learnt a long time ago that the best way to deal with 18 was to tell her the truth.
"So looking at me makes you feel happy?".
"Well yeah" said Krillen. 18's cheeks grew warm and she wished that her hair wasn't up in a ponytail so that she could hide behind it.
"Well c'mon," she said "let's get this wall finished".
Half and hour later they were done.
"It's about time we finished this" said 18.
"You're not wrong" agreed Krillen. 18 dropped her brush and stood up then she walked out the room. Krillen stayed in there for a while longer before he went down stairs.
***
Later that night 18 lay in bed wide awake, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't sleep. Moonlight shone in through the window and coated everything in a sliver hue. 18 rolled over and looked at the empty spot beside her. She remembered the first night she had spent at Kame House, which was over 4 months ago. She'd been so at rest night next to Krillen, it had just felt right. And now here by herself it didn't feel right at all, but then again, she never felt right when she was by herself. And that was what confused her so much. What if her feelings for Krillen weren't what she thought they were at all, what if she had tricked herself into believing she liked him because she was to scared to be alone. She didn't think that was the case, she was almost positive her feelings were genuine but she just wasn't 100% sure. 18 groaned and threw the covers off, turned the lamp on and sat up. She obviously wasn't going to get any sleep like, so she might as well do something to take her mind off Krillen. But that was useless to, everything she did reminded her of Krillen in one way or another, so eventually she climbed back in bed and took another shot at sleep.
***
Far away in the forest another person was having difficulty sleeping and it was much for the same reason to. 17 missed his sister. The cabin seemed so big and empty with out her around to look after him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. 18 had always been the sensible one of the two. If 17 had an idea, weather it be a good or a bad one he would go and do it, 18 however would actually think about it before she jumped into anything she might regret later. Except for her latest stunt, but obviously she wasn't regretting it. 17 hadn't forgotten his promise, he would get his sister back, he didn't want to do anything to hurt her, but if he had to then he would. He was going to get her back one way or another. Trying to force her to come home obviously wasn't working, he was going to have to try a different tactic.
***
The next morning Krillen entered the kitchen in a particularly good mood.
"What are you happy about?" asked 18, who was always the first one up.
Krillen shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing really" he replied.
"What ever" said 18.
"Hey do you thing we should go over the window frame again?" asked Krillen. 18 groaned, she didn't want to do anymore painting but she did agree with Krillen, the door and window frames looked rather pale.
"Yeah we probably should" she said as she stood up to put her coffee cup in the sink.
"Well I'm gonna go into town to get some groceries, so if you want you can come or get a head start on the window or wait for me to get back" said Krillen.
"I'll start the window" said 18 and she went upstairs to get dressed. Krillen, who was already dressed, grabbed his car keys and left.
18 put on a pair of old grey track pants, a light blue tee-shirt and then she tied her blonde hair back with a white bandanna. Then she went down the hall into the baby's room. Luckily the plastic was still on the ground from yesterday. She picked up the brush and opened the pot of green paint. Then she started. Before long she had paint all over her face and clothes, she was just happy there wasn't any in her hair. Just then there was a knock at the door. After a few minutes it became apparent that Master Roshi wasn't going to answer it, so 18 made her way all the way down stairs wondering who the hell would be visiting un-announced.
"It's about time some opened the damn door" said 17.
"17, what are you doing here?" asked 18 as she stepped outside. 17 took in her appearance, she was covered in paint, holding a paintbrush, it didn't take a genius to work out what she had been doing.
"What were you painting?" he asked. 18 poked her stomach with the handle of the brush.
"The baby's room" she replied. 17 scowled, this baby wasn't even born yet and it was already taking his sister away from him, he couldn't even begin to imagine how bad things would be after the baby was born.
"Do you want to come inside?" asked 18 "it's pretty cold out here". 17 was happy to stay outside but 18 wanted to go inside so he followed her in.
"Come up stairs" said 18. 17 followed 18 upstairs and into the baby's room.
"Well what do you think?" asked 18 as she resumed her painting task. 17 only grunted in reply. 18 rolled her eyes, picked up the other brush and threw it at him. "Well if you're gonna be here you might as well make yourself useful" she said. 17 smiled and began o help, at least 18 wasn't being cold towards him anymore.
"What have you been doing with your self?" asked 18.
"Nothing. You?"
"We, I mean me and Krillen, have been spending every second of the day painting this room. This kid better like what we've done because the room's not getting another coat of paint until they can afford to do it them self" said 18. 17 laughed. He hadn't seen 18 this happy in a long time and he started to wonder if it was right to take it away from her. It was either he could either take away her chance of happiness because he was to selfish to let her go, or sacrifice his happiness so his sister could have hers, either way one of them was going to end up miserable for the rest of there lives.
"Where is Krillen? Shouldn't he be here with you" said 17
"He went to get some groceries," said 18 "do you want some coffee or something?" 17 shook his head. Suddenly 18 grabbed his hand.
"18 what are you doing?" he asked.
"The baby's awake" said 18 and she placed 17's hand on her stomach. 17 wasn't quiet sure what to expect, but when he felt it he couldn't help smiling just a little. That was his little niece or nephew in there, he was going to be an uncle, it even made him feel a little excited. If he was happy about the fact he was going to be an uncle he couldn't imagine how excited 18 was at the idea of being a mother, he couldn't take that away from her no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't. He guessed he knew who was going to be miserable forever. 18 picked up on his un-easiness and let go of his hand.
"What's wrong?" she asked. 17 shook his head to clear his thought. "Nothing" he said.
"You do know you can tell me anything right," said 18 "I might be a lot of things, but first and foremost I'm your sister". 17 felt a great weight lift of his shoulders hearing his sister say those words.
"C'mon let's go downstairs and get something to drink" said 18 and she walked out the room.
Once they were in the kitchen 18 tried again. "So do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"
"Well I guess I was jealous, I thought I wasn't going to get to see you anymore cause you were going to make a life with Krillen" confess 17. 18 blinked a few times then made her confession.
"I was afraid to start a life with Krillen because I thought you wouldn't want to see me anymore. Remember how mad you were at me?" said 18.
"I wasn't mad, I guess I was more shocked" said 17.
"You think I wasn't. But I realised that this is a good thing, not a bad thing".
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see" said 17.
***
About 20 minutes later 18 heard someone open the front door and call her name. "18".
"In here Krillen" she called out in reply. Krillen walked into the kitchen and almost had a heart attack when he saw who was sitting at the table with 18.
"18, what is he doing here?" Krillen demanded to know. 18 stood up and took some of the thing out of his hands. "It's alright, 17's just visiting," 18 looked at her brother and smiled. "He's sorry".
"S-s-sorry," Krillen stuttered. He was finding the whole thing a little hard to believe.
17 nodded his head. "I really am". Krillen shifted his gaze from brother to sister. Something in 18's eyes was telling Krillen to believe her, so he but the bullet and held out his hand, which 17 took and briefly shook before releasing it.
"Did you get what we needed?" asked 18.
"Uh-huh, plus I got some Ice-cream and some chocolate sauce and some chips" said Krillen
"Why?" asked 18. Krillen shrugged his shoulders "Cause I thought you might like a treat".
"That was a nice thought," said 18 and she pulled the chips out the plastic bag and ripped it open, all 3 of them dug in.
***
17 stayed until later that afternoon. 18 had tried to persuade him to stay for dinner but he had refused saying he already felt like he had outstayed his welcome.
"Well what do you want for dinner?" asked Krillen.
"I'm not fussed" replied 18.
"Spaghetti?"
"Yeah". Krillen went into the kitchen to start the dinner.
18 sighed and sunk further into the couch, she was happy. She now knew that 17 was happy for her, and he always would be, no matter what she chose to do. So she could see no reason why she shouldn't tell Krillen how she felt. The only reason she had been holding back in the first place was because she was afraid of what 17 would think of her. 18 smiled to herself and flicked through the channels on the T.V but nothing good was on so she turned it off, she was feeling sleepy, so she closed her eyes and relaxed for until Krillen called her in for dinner.
Much later that night Krillen was sitting on the couch watching the late night news. It had sort of become a habit for most of the Z warriors to watch as many news bulletins as possible since cell had invaded there T.V screens almost a year earlier. When 18 entered the room, the only light was coming from the T.V screen.
"You still up?" asked Krillen.
"Obviously" replied 18. She took a few deep breaths then made her way over to the couch, she could feel herself shaking, her legs felt like the were going to give out on her but she was going to do this. She sat down next to Krillen and rested her head on his shoulder. 18 almost giggled when she felt how much Krillen tensed up, but after a few minutes he relaxed.
"Are you quiet comfy there?" he asked. 18 grabbed hold of Krillen's arms and moved it so he was hugging her, "That's better" she said.
Krillen felt his heart sore, he couldn't remember ever feeling this happy. He didn't know if he should take it a little further or not. Finally he decided just to find out what had brought all this on.
"What's gotten into you?" he asked.
"Why? Don't you like it"
"I'm not saying that at all. I was just wondering why you're sitting here in my arms?" said Krillen.
"I thought the answer to that would have been obvious" said 18 looking up at him, a big grin plastered on her face
Krillen smiled and kissed the top of her head, "It is now" he said. 18 sat up and brought her lips to Krillens for that one kiss that would tell Krillen exactly how she felt. It was filled with passion and thanks and so much more. Neither one of them wanted it to end but they both knew it had to. Krillen knew his face was bright red, but right now he didn't really care, he was too happy. 18 kissed Krillen's forehead once more then rested her head back on Krillens shoulder. She was glad Krillen had responded to her actions, she wasn't sure if he had had the same feelings, but she also knew that there was only one way to find out, so she had just done it. Luckily it had all worked out.
It was well after midnight when the news finished.
"C'mon 18, you need some rest," said Krillen. There was no reply. "18". She was asleep. Krillen gently nudged her, she groaned and opened her eyes.
"Thanks a lot Krillen, I was quiet happy there" she said.
"Yeah but wouldn't you rather sleep in your own bed than on the couch" said Krillen.
"I'd rather sleep in your bed" said 18. Krillen laughed. "Alright then, my bed it is".
***
The next morning 18 opened her eyes to be face to face with Krillen, he looked so cute when he was asleep. 18 reached over and brushed some of his jet-black hair out of his eyes. She could feel the baby kicking and moving and she smiled. Today she was exactly 3 months away from her due date, the 14th of August, of course the chances of the baby actually being born on that day were pretty slim. 18 rolled over and looked out the window, for the first time this week the sky was blue, since it was still early there were some orange parts, it was really beautiful. She heard Krillen groan and he opened his eyes.
"Good morning" said 18.
"Sleep well?," asked Krillen. 18 nodded her head. "That's good".
18 wriggled over a little and rested her head on Krillens chest. He sighed happily. "You know what?" he said.
"What?" asked 18.
"I never though I could be this happy" replied Krillen.
"I really make you that happy?". Krillen didn't reply, instead he kissed 18 on top of the head and hugged her tightly. 18 got the message. She smiled into Krillens bare chest and kissed it.
"That tickles" he said.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" called Krillen
"It's me" came the reply, it was a voice that could belong to no one else but Oolong.
"What do you want?" asked Krillen
"Have you seen that babe friend of yours?"
"If you're talking about me then I'm in here to" said 18. The next thing they heard was a loud thump. Krillen got up and opened the bedroom door and sure enough Oolong had passed out in the hallway. Krillen laughed and picked him up. He took him down the hall and carefully put him down in front of Master Roshi's door.
***
A/N; Yay they finally got together. Now before anyone tells me 17 is totally OCC read this. I made him like this on purpose, 18 had a softer side so why can't he. He was just really pissed off in the earlier chapters but now he's had a while to think about it he's kind of calmed down a little. Ok.
Now go and review for me. I'm trying to get 50 reviews for this whole fic so if you wanna help, click that little button down there. ~Deadly Beauty
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