hey there folks! Yeah this is Labor day! Enjoy and R&R!- a.p.e.
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Chapter 6
Labor Day
"RRRRAAAADDDDDDDDIIIITTTTZZZZ!!!!!! I hate you!!! I hate you!! I swear if I ever survive this I'll kill you with my bear hands!!" My tirade was cut off as another contraction spasmed within my womb. The medical staff was trying to soothe me, saying that I would be fine.

"Fine?!? I've got a Saiyajin baby using my uterus for a gravity room to work out in and you say I'll be fine?!? Aaarrggghh!!" Once again, Radditz's brat made his presence known to me. Tactfully, no one asked about Radditz's whereabouts. I hadn't even bothered to look for Radditz. After I told him about the pregnancy, he simply disappeared. Everyone claimed not to feel his ki signature anywhere; I think they were just trying to protect the sorry urchin. My coaches (one planned, the other two impromptu) had their hands quite full. Puck was busy dabbing my forehead with a towel, wiping away the sweat that formed on my visage. Of everyone on this planet, Puck knew what kind of pain I was going through. Seeing as she had a baby a few years ago, but lost it to Frieza. Puck knew that childbirth was the act that made a woman more or less than everything she would be in life.

Narith and Kakarotto were my other two coaches. Those two were barely holding their own while I swung them around like rag dolls. Both of these men are exceedingly stronger than I am. There was no way either of the men could get out of the coaching job either; I had the majority of their hair in my iron grip. Kakarotto was a bit confused at the matter of childbirth (though less confused about my volatile temper), although he took the physical abuse on his head in a good-hearted way. When his friendly eyes met my pain-filled ones, his usual sheepish grin crossed his face.

"Geez, Jadean, you sure are angry today!" he acknowledged as my labor pains caused my body to convulse briefly. "Are you sure this is all I can do to help?"

I growled loudly at him and yelled out, "Men! Damn you all!! Aargh!"

Narith, who was used to my yelling at him and my trying to knock his lights out when we were sparring, was having a hard time staying conscious. He wasn't sure, but felt reasonably confidant that me constantly pounding his head on the rails of the hospital bed was making his vision go dark and indistinct. The nurses were keeping track of my vital statistics and regardless of how I felt, they said I was within normal limits. I had never felt so helpless in my entire life. My body rippled with a force that I couldn't control and that made a rage slowly build itself up inside of me. Was it so much to ask of Radditz that he simply stay around for the birth? After a series of contractions, the labor pains ceased and I loosened my grip on the two men. Kakarotto pulled up a chair and ran his hand through his hair.

Man, Jadean has a VERY strong grip when she's angry! Kakarotto thought. A rather bruised Narith slid to the ground, thanking Anubis tat he hadn't gone prematurely bald. Pregnancy was obviously not a warfront meant for men. Puck was noticing how pale my face was and was wondering why the Chikyuujin doctor was concerned.

Kakarotto's stomach growled VERY loudly and I took a swat at him, "How can you think of food at a time like this??" He at least had the grace to look sorry.

"Well, it has been thirty-six hours since you came here." a nurse noted, looking at her watch.

"What?!?" I said in utter shock. "Thirty-six hours?? What are you three still doing here?? Go out and get something to eat before you collapse! Go on!" I shooed them toward the door. Puck, Narith, and Kakarotto promised to return as soon as possible.

"Nothing is likely to happen anyway." I told them. When the baby finally came, I was screaming and groaning in pain. I felt like my midsection was performing the final indignity. It had turned against me and scared the hell out of me. The pain was so great that the increased wave of activity pushed at my heart until need and anticipation became one; with final effort, I arched my back and gave one final push. With a heave of almost unimaginable strength; a wet, bloody, male child came shrieking into the world. A male child with fangs and a tail.

"Ahhh," I murmured, opening my eyes as the pressure within me suddenly disappeared. I wasn't especially effervescent about my new child's tail, but I'm sure it was one of those things that I would grow to cherish over time. It was the overall look of the baby that I wasn't very impressed with.

"Will he always look like a tomato?" I asked totally dazed while the nurses cleaned and wrapped him in clothing and a blanket. "I at least thought he'd look like his father..."
I didn't hear the answer, if there was one. I was just aware of a sudden, great weariness within my body; all of my strength was gone. As I laid back against the stack of pillows,
the monitoring medic gasped, I had gone totally flat line. The others in the room froze for a moment, as the harsh whine of the heart monitor intruded. Then, the whole crew sprang into action.

"No pulse! No heart beat!" cried out one nurse, after checking my vital signs. There was also no flicker in my pupils when light was shone directly into them. In the background, my baby was wailing the funny, thin cry of the newborn. Outside the room, unnoticed but most definitely present, was an individual who was usually around, and missed nothing, felt the flicker of my ki weakening. The double doors of the labor room were forcefully pushed open. In the entrance stood a man tall in stature and exhumed an aura of sheer arrogance. Radditz strode in quickly, almost running. He shoved medics aside, and didn't care less when they hit the opposite wall.

As he tore off his gloves, he roared out, "Jadean! Don't you dare leave me!"

He placed his hands over my flat line heart, and then instinctively-almost negligently, kicked out behind him, sending another medic who was in the way flying. The Lord of the East Hemisphere of Vegeta-sei paid them no further attention. Radditz retreated into his mind, and reached out to me through my fading ki.

She doesn't even know she's dying! Radditz thought. He pressed his lips together, and began to concentrate on the energy in his own ki. His hands, the focus for his gathering energy, began to glow softly, as if they were getting ready to blast something. Instead, they gently transferred healing energy to my dying body. As gently as he could, his mind prodded mine.

"Jadean… wake up. You can't die yet. You can't die. There's still so much you have to do." Radditz paused a moment; he thought he sensed a flicker, deep within. "There' s no time for you to die yet; don't sleep. Don't go to sleep yet. There's still so much… I haven't told you…" He wondered if another flick of energy was his answer, it was getting harder to tell.

"Jadean, dammit, don't you die...I need you!" Radditz sent a jolt of energy into my body. The heart monitor flared, then began to beep with a steady rhythm. At the same time, my body simultaneously took in a breath of life-sustaining oxygen.

Radditz hovered over my body, making sure my ki was strong enough, and wouldn't fade any time soon. Nodding briefly, the warrior lord left the room, growling out, "Damn half-breeds...too fragile to survive even 36 hours in labor..."

Only Puck or Kakarotto would have noticed the slight tremor in his hands, or the look of tender relief he had shown as I was brought back to the land of the living. It was a short time later that Kakarotto, Narith, and Puck came into the room. Everything was a flurry of activity, and no one paid my three coaches any mind. Kakarotto immediately sensed the vestige of Radditz's ki; that, and the dents in the wall only reinforced his thoughts. Since no one was killed that he could tell, Goku didn't really think it worth looking in to.

Hmm," was all he said.

"Oh, Jadean! How could you have the baby without us??" scolded Puck, though it was in a friendly manner. She was hanging over the incubator, peering at the newborn child within. My eyes opened, and I smiled wearily.

"I just had the most wonderful dream," I said totally dazed, "I dreamed Radditz said he needed me."

Puck brought the infant over to see his mother. The look he gave me who bore him was thoughtful, as his little mouth scowled at the world.

"Puck," I asked in a low voice, "is there something wrong with my baby?"

The question startled Puck. "What do you mean?"

"Well," I replied, "is he supposed to look like a red potato?"

Narith poked Kakarotto in the ribs, "So much for mothers loving their kids at first sight, huh?"

Kakarotto merely looked distracted, and replied, "Huh?"

"Never mind," Narith grumbled, rubbing the sore spots on his scalp.

Puck smiled, "Oh, no! He'll get better, he really will. He'll be handsome as his father, I'll bet." At the mention of the father, I sighed.

"It really was a wonderful dream," I whispered, touching my baby's chubby fingers. He grabbed at them, squeezing them with considerably more strength than any normal Altahajin or Saiyajin baby would have. I managed to extricate my hand, and settle down to sleep. "I just wish someday it might have come true."

"Umm," Goku said, scratching his head.

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