Disclaimer: the voice of God : YOU DON'T OWN THIS LUCA/ Luca: I can't hear you, lalalalala
A/N; They're still in the restaurant
"The girl, Jessenia, seems to be very useful to you," Vegeta commented in between bites. "Is she your concubine?"
Goku looked at him, surprised and grinned wholeheartedly. "No, we're just the best of friends."
"You should make her such. She seems to like you and is apparently boding well for children."
"They're not mine. I'm sure she's told you that already. Many people think they are from how close we hang around one another but they're not. I'm going to take care of them when she has them anyway."
"And when is she due?"
"Not until next month." They heard a crash from a platter hitting the ground and Jessenia was bent over at the waist. She breathed deeply, leaning with two arms on one table before her eyes met with Goku's across the room.
"Goku," she whispered. He jumped up, Vegeta easily following him. He went to her side and picked her up, asking questions on the way out the restaurant. "I think it's time," she murmured before shutting her eyes in pain.
Vegeta, not knowing what to do, took out a bunch of bills, threw them on Goku's table and followed them out. The car was already started and waiting, apparently for the Saiya-jin prince and he hopped in, wondering what he was supposed to do as Goku drove.
"Kakarott! What am I supposed to do?"
"Help her breathe."
"Um," he reached for her hand as she began her Lamaze. She curled her smaller fingers around his larger ones and squeezed as tight as she could. She began a florid of Spanish when the pain did not go away.
"Goku, their early!" she screamed in Spanish.
"I know, Jessenia," he replied calmly in the same language even though his hands were shaking on the wheel and his eyes were hard with concentration.
"What's wrong with them?"
"I don't know."
"Kakarott, what is she saying?" Vegeta interjected when he couldn't follow the conversation.
"She's saying she doesn't know why they're coming early." The car lurched to a stop as the arrived in front of the hospital. Men came out with a wheelchair as Vegeta carefully carried her out of the car to sit in it. Where her body was before, there was a spot of blood.
"Kakarott, she's bleeding."
Goku looked with disinterest at the car and tossed to keys in Vegeta's direction. "I need you to stop by my apartment and pick up the duffle bag that's near the door. Then come back ASAP." Goku didn't wait for an answer but followed the doctors in with Jessenia in between all.
For a moment, Vegeta felt angry that he had come in the middle of all this but then decided to be the most helpful he could. He barely knew these people from jump but he did know they deserved his attentions because he hadn't met nicer people. Jumping in the car right before an ambulance arrived, he made his way to Kakarott and Jessenia's apartment, wondering why he was so worried about the twins as well when he had no relations whatsoever with these people.
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Goku kept an attentive eye and ear on the heart machine as three similar heartbeats beat in sync. Jessenia's eyes were closed tightly in pain, a brief contraction moving through her. He sat stoically as she squeezed his hand tight and then released it in a whimper of pain.
He smiled, only because she needed it, not because everything was past. He squeezed her hand encouragingly, and looked her in the eye.
"Where's the doctor, Goku?"
"He said he'd be back, Jessenia."
She shut her eyes and breathed noisily. "Where did you send Vegeta to?"
"The apartment; I asked him to grab our stuff, just in case something like this happened."
She grinned weakly. "I meant to do that about a week ago."
"I know. I did it for you after my brief study hall." Her eyes were apologetic. "It's not your fault. I left early."
Her breathing labored as she felt another contraction coming in. "God Goku! You would………think………that the………doctor………would've been………back," her eyes shot open as it passed. "That bastard has probably forgotten about me."
Just then, the door opened and Vegeta walked in.
"Shit," they said together.
"It's nice to see both of you as well." Vegeta dropped the huge duffle bag that would've easily swallowed another man by the bed. When his eyes settled on Jessenia's sweating form, he remembered what he'd seen in the car. He moved forward, fully intending to look under the bed sheet but was stayed by Goku's hand.
"You're not the doctor."
"I've a medical degree. I know what I'm doing."
Jessenia nodded, knowing Goku would be able to see it even though he wasn't looking at her directly. Right now, she was gaining another contraction and she wanted someone to tell her what the hell was going on. The two Saiya-jin stared at one another before the taller one nodded reluctantly. The shorter one lifted the sheet and he gasped.
"Where's the nurse button?" he asked when he came back up.
"What's………what's wrong?"
"What's wrong Vegeta?"
"That babies are almost here but there's a complication. She's bleeding abnormally. I think the two are choking."
Jessenia burst into tears as Goku ran from the room. He grabbed the nearest obstetrician he saw.
"Please help us. My friend………please," Goku didn't know what to do. He was past the point of panic and just dragged the doctor by the arm in the room. Vegeta was sized up as though he were playing football. His hands were under the sheet and looked as though he were………
"Sir!" the doctor screamed. "What the hell are you doing? You could cause infection!"
"I'd rather have these babies infected with a cold then dead," he murmured, pressured. Jessenia was cursing out every god there was in Spanish. The doctor ran out and soon came back in an anesticiologist and a shit load of doctors. They all hovered around Vegeta as he sweated, his eyes going into fierce concentration. His hand stilled as another contraction came on, the fingers molding its way around the closest twin's form. Even though the tightening of her uterus didn't hurt him, he knew it could kill the babies in its current state.
The contraction passed and he worked quickly, knowing he had to turn one of them and get the cord from around the other's neck. He successfully did both, as someone began pulling at his shirt from behind to move him. Distantly, he heard Kakarott yelling at them and there was a crash from where he suspected the other Saiya-jin through the person across the room. He pulled his hand out from the painfully tight opening and screamed:
"Push!"
She did, and one slid out, unhindered and wailing like it was the end of the world. The other was slower but caused the mother no surmountable amount of pain. Vegeta caught both of them, a towel appearing out of nowhere to wrap the children in. One was a boy and the other was a girl, looking very similar to a certain Saiya-jin. Vegeta looked up at Kakarott with a billion watt smile and he returned it, just as relieved.
"Jessenia," Vegeta asked, "do you want Kakarott to cut the cord?"
"No me importa," she murmured tired. Kakarott came forward slowly, as though unafraid. The doctor beside Vegeta who was congratulating him, grabbed for the pair of scissors to give to Kakarott. The other man grinned lightly and did as he was told, cutting to the direct spot Vegeta pointed. A little bit of liquid squirted out and smacked Kakarott in the face as he cut it. Suddenly, his world went fuzzy and he collapsed on the ground.
Vegeta looked at the other Saiya-jin with a smirk. "Pathetic," he murmured under his breath but went to coddle the newborns once more as the real doctors took place.
As they were dealing with cleaning Jessenia up, she opened her eyes and glanced around the room. "Where's Goku?" she asked Vegeta.
Vegeta handed the children over to the twp nurses who would clean the babies off and began taking off his shirt. "On the floor. He passed out."
She leaned over the side and smiled victoriously. "Haha, you motherfucker!" She pointed down at him as though he could hear her. "You owe me ten dollars! You said you wouldn't pass out and now look who's on the floor!"
Vegeta raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Jessenia was back to her old self and apparently, the moment where Prince Vegeta had breezed into their lives had come to a close. He looked down at the passed out Saiya-jin and then at the young woman who he just helped give birth to her daughter and son. For the first moment in his life, he was content. He no longer wanted to move up in the world or down and he definitely wanted to get off this mud ball of a planet. The Saiya-jin race was dead and long gone and the man on the floor………
He would never make a true Saiya-jin.
Vegeta grinned and looked out Jessenia's babies. The girl was the beautiful type, with black hair that already had spikes like Kakarott's (which was a surprise because Kakarott said it wasn't his baby). She had dark eyes like her mother and now was curled in the fetal position in the nurse's arms. She stared at the Saiya-jin prince wide-eyed as though she knew him and grinned when he smirked. As he turned away, something brown and furry found its way to her mouth………
The boy was looked mad and had deep blue eyes. They seemed to move calculatingly over the whole scene, even though he was so young. His eyes fell on Vegeta, and the prince narrowed his eyes. Whatever reverie the young boy was in, snapped and he grinned wholeheartedly at the prince. Vegeta assumed this was what their father was really like but with Kakarott around, they would learn how to live better. Vegeta cocked his head to the side and the little boy did the same, already mimicking someone he didn't know. His tiny fingers were grasped around something……….
Yes, he'd positively need to get out these people's lives before he fell in love with that bundle. If they turned out anything like Kakarott (which is the only person Vegeta had ever yielding to in his life and gave the prince a good fight) then he was in big trouble. He smirked again, nodding at them and then moving over to kiss Jessenia on the cheek. Someone had finally noticed Kakarott was still on the floor and went to revive him with smelling salts. He turned away right after his lips met her cheek. She grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Why? Goku would want you here when he woke up so that he can thank you. And I want you here because he won't believe he passed out."
"I can't stay." He went to move away from her but her grip tightened. His anger flared for a moment before he could calmly look at her. "What?"
"See you at the diner?"
He nodded curtly and removed her little fingers from his bare arm. "See you at the diner."
He left the hospital and didn't look back once.
__________________________________________________________________
Goku opened his eyes when Jessenia's voice penetrated his reverie. He had been holding his little shadow while Jessi was on the phone talking to some people. The babies were a month and two weeks now and they already were a load of trouble. Jessenia had to take a long leave from both her jobs because Goku had to go back to school and could only watch the kids every once and a while. The girl apparently loved her name (considering Vegeta was the one who inspired it) because every time someone called her, she grinned and began cooing. The boy was quite the opposite; he continually scowled unless, (for some reason) he was watching Goku train.
Kakarotta and Vegito couldn't have made better names.
They had been looking for Vegeta for weeks now, even asked Spring if she remembered where he lived. The girl had stayed shut and stiffly walked away, knowing she had lost Goku now and forever. Jessenia had threatened her lifestyle and the only thing she could tell her was Vegeta lived in the neighborhood where he picked Jessenia up. She mumbled under her breath and walked away, picking her son and daughter up along the way. Ever since then, Jessenia hadn't even returned to that job to visit.
After her labor, Goku had gone straight to school while leaving her and the twins at the hospital. While he was there, he'd found out Vegeta was a student and had transferred the day before. Goku searched through the records frantically for Vegeta's address and found it…but when he went to the apartment, it was empty. For some reason, Goku concluded, the other Saiya-jin was trying his best to avoid them. Rather it was purposeful or accidental was beyond Goku but the outcome was the same: Goku wasn't the only Saiya-jin left. The knowledge gave him somewhat a bit of comfort when he left the empty apartment but his heart was broken again when he ran into a certain woman.
"Vegeta," his neighbor called.
Goku turned out the sound of her voice and looked her directly in the eyes despite the fact she was in a wheelchair.
"You're looking for Vegeta?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"He talked about you. He even painted a portrait of you and him together." She grinned lightly as though she knew something he didn't.
"We, my f-f-friend and I," he swallowed and tried again. The look this woman was giving him freaked him out a little but he knew there was no reason to fear her. She obviously had some information about Vegeta and he wasn't going to leave until he got it. "My friend and I haven't seen him in a while. We were worried that something may have happened to him."
Her grin widened and she waved a hand in his direction. "Follow me." She wheeled into the creaky elevator, unfazed by how the doors rasped shut. Goku stood next to her, weak-kneed suddenly for the threat of the elevator collapsing. She looked at him through the side of her glasses. "It won't collapse," she said as though reading his mind. "I've been going up and down in this elevator for the last 3 years of my life. Sometimes, when he was in a good mood, Vegeta would carry me."
"Are you two," Goku swallowed again as his mouth went dry, "old lovers?"
"Of course." The elevator dinged to a stop and she wheeled out. Goku knew he had to follow otherwise the door would close him in. She wheeled unconscious of the stares and restrained glances she received from people in the hallway, as they were a daily occurrence for her. She turned back to look at Goku who was trying his best to send glares people's way who were being rude to her. "Don't worry about them, Kakarott. They won't do anything more because they're afraid of him."
He didn't have to ask whom she was referring to.
She came to the end of the hall and opened the door with her key, ushering him in. Once Goku stepped inside, it was like breathing a breath of fresh air. There were window gardens on each sill and the atmosphere was painted white, a dull color if the floral wallpaper that lined each one didn't accentuate them. On each wall was a beautifully painted picture all of which had a familiar name scrawled in the corner.
"Vegeta painted these?"
"He was a Visual Arts major." She sat in the corner satisfied as he looked at each picture, most of them scenes of something. Goku felt each one, as though he could capture the essence of the man through his painting.
"They're beautiful," he whispered.
"He lets the painting take over him." She wheeled into the kitchen. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
Goku followed her, taken in by more portraits Vegeta had painted. His style was unique, and that's what made him easy to spot. Many of them had swirls of orange color and red sky, as though the scene, itself, expressed bliss in an ethereal sort of way. The woman poured him a cup of tea, unhindered by the height of the stove.
He sat across from her, patiently waiting for his drink to be served. And once it finally was, she wheeled into the appropriate space, smiling at him.
"Vegeta talked a lot about you. Apparently, you've frustrated the prince."
Goku took a sip, not noticing what she'd called him. "Well, he's frustrated me as well. My friend-,"
"Yes, Jessenia. Tell me, how are the twins?"
He raised an eyebrow at her, surprised she knew that much. "They're fine. They bother Jessenia and me like all hell but they're superb."
"Great, and Jessenia?"
"She's stressed. She's been looking for Vegeta for quite a while now and she can't find a job that'll take her back so soon. They all want her to wait one month, a couple weeks, something that'll have her worrying herself at home." He snorted as he took another sip. "The house has been cleaner then I've ever seen it."
She nodded and took a sip of her own tea. "And you, Kakarott? How have you been?"
"How do you know my name?"
She hiccupped and set her tea down. Holding out a hand, she shook his firmly. "Permit me to introduce myself. My name is-,"
The door slammed, followed by a loud: "Mom!"
The woman rolled her eyes and looked at Goku. "I've told him to stop slamming that door." She leaned back to look in the front room. "God damn it, Trunks! I've told you to stop slamming that fucking door! You're fucking 15 years old and you should know better!"
Trunks grinned at the sound of his mother's agitated voice and set Bra down. He owed her a piggyback ride from the stairs because he'd lost their bet. He followed it into the kitchen and was surprised to see a man sitting in his seat. The thing that freaked him out the most was he looked very closely related to his father. Trunks narrowed his eyes and curled his tail tightly around his waist, waiting for the man to say the wrong thing.
"Sorry," he couldn't help but grin sheepishly even though he was ready for a battle.
The woman in the wheelchair sighed but leaned over for a kiss. Trunks obediently gave it and moved to sit lengthwise from the pair. She didn't even look. "You park your ass in that chair and I guarantee you'll find yourself on your way out that window."
Trunks stopped, butt in midair, and walked out. Goku turned red from trying his best not to laugh at the funny situation but as soon as Trunks made his exit, he let it all lose.
"Yeah, you think it's funny, don't you."
"A………little," he wheezed and laughed harder.
"Kakarott, you look like a dolt."
"I………don't………care." He fell out in new hysterics. It cut off suddenly when a little foot made contact with his face and made him fly across the room.
"Shuddup," he heard a little voice growl.
"Now, Bra, that wasn't very nice," the woman admonished.
"But he was laughing at you, Mommy." Little Bra turned and looked at the woman, a little pink from the exertion of hurting the man.
"No, he wasn't baby. He was laughing at your idiotic brother. Now, go get the smelling salts."
"They're not necessary," Goku said as he rose. He wiped some of the plaster off his clothes and looked at the little girl. "Okay, enough of this chit-chat. Who the hell are you and what the hell is that?" He pointed an accusing finger at Bra who went to hide behind her mother.
"Well, that," she nodded behind her, "is my daughter Bra, and I am Bulma. Bulma Briefs." She held out a hand again and he hesitantly shook it, wondering if this woman could throw him across the room too.
"Son Goku."
"Goku? I wonder why Vegeta has been calling you Kakarott all this time."
"It's his name for me. He feels as though Goku is not a Saiya-jin enough name." Goku clamped his hand over his mouth when he realized what he'd said. Bra came from behind her mother and looked at him with wide eyes as Trunks stumbled into the kitchen.
"You're a Saiya-jin?" Bra asked.
"I thought my father was the only one left," Trunks interjected.
"Your father?" Goku asked, bewildered.
"Yes, Goku. That's what I brought you up to tell you. I am Vegeta's ex-wife and these are his kids: Bra," Bra waved, "and Trunks," Trunks nodded curtly. Goku slowly walked to the table and set right his turned over chair. He sat and took a gulp of his neglected tea.
"So, let me get this straight. Vegeta never said anything about a wife and certainly nothing about kids and yet you guys have been living above him this whole time."
"The kids alternate between where they want to sleep. Judging by your ignorance, I'd say you've never been to the man's apartment when it was furnished."
"No."
"Well, it's a pretty neat place. When he's not working at the hospital a few hours he goes to school here. He has his PhD in Obstetrics Gynecology already. Did you know that?"
"Yes, he delivered Jessenia's baby. They told me at the hospital he comes with high recommendations at other places and because he's such a miracle worker, she was lucky he was there."
"She was. He told me every detail." She put her hand on top of his to settle his nerves. "Every. Gruesome. Detail."
Goku shivered appropriately. "So, when did you guys get divorced? It wasn't when-," he waved a hand at her wheelchair.
"Oh, no, before this. The day the papers were finalized, I got pregnant with Bra. But by the time we found out, it was too late and we decided to stay divorced. Why waste the money just to live a lie?" He grunted in agreement. "When is the last time you seen him?"
"I was going to ask you that," he said. "It seems the Saiya-jin no Ouji has been avoiding us. Jessenia's been giving herself gray hairs over his disappearance and she wants him to see the kids."
"And what about you, Goku? Why do you want to see him?"
"I want to help Jessenia stop driving us crazy. The kids are-,"
"I didn't say anything about the kids, Goku. Why do you want to see him?"
Bra climbed into her mother's lap as Trunks took his place by her side. All three of them looked at him through unyielding eyes and he had this unrelenting urge to cower.
"Why do you want to see him, Mr. Goku, Kakarott, sir ma' am?"
"Yeah, Kakarott, why do you want to see my dad?"
Goku took a sip of tea to cool the fire inside him. So many images were brought up by the question and none of them were presentable to young ears. "To say hi and to learn a little about our race."
Bulma shook her head as though unsatisfied with the answer. She bit her lip and thought for a moment, Trunks and Bra's eyes landing on her. "Are you going to show him the picture, Mom?" Trunks asked.
"What picture?" Goku asked.
"Follow me," Bulma said after a moment. Bra jumped down off her mother's lap as Goku fell in step behind her. The little girl stopped as her mother and friend continued, staying Trunks.
"We have to follow them-,"
"No," Bra said in a voice that was beyond her years. "Kakarott will need some time alone after he sees what Daddy painted."
Trunks shrugged but turned anyway, picking his sister up along the way. "It's going to especially hard to look at if he's homophobic."
Don't tell me you thought I wasn't going to leave you a cliffhanger? Review.
