Lady Sakura-chan: Hi there. I'm here to reveal… erm… nevermind! Read it and find out!

Otaku: just when you think things are starting to look up…

Tatoosh: That's the reason I put a "Tatoosh" warning in the summary. I don't think it gets anywhere so grizzly again. *pauses to think* Hn, no, not that bad. I'll warn you about the dream sequence. Oh, and thank you so much for jogging my memory on that detail! I'd completely forgotten! Now I might be able to get past that horrid writer's block that I have going on this story. (Everything posted so far has been prewritten).

Nasiya: The ideas for the torture? They just came. I don't really know where from, and don't want to find out. I would learn more about myself than I need to know. No, it didn't sound twisted, it's perfectly logical. You want to comfort and cuddle him and make it all better, because everything that happened was just so horribly awful. Hey, go ahead and praise. You're bound to find something that I royally screw up (or that you just plain hate) later to complain about. (Aren't you?) 'sides, I like the encouragement. It makes a nice change from the rest of my day.

To everyone: Some of you are about to be very disappointed, and the rest of you will laugh your asses off. And there is a truly evil cliffy. Hmm… maybe that's why everyone keeps telling me I'm evil? Is it the cliffhangers?

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"It just never occurred to me that something was wrong. I mean, he's always trained for long hours!" Bulma cried. "He eats with us, how can he be malnourished? Or dehydrated?"

"Easy, Bulma," Goku said. "You know now. You'll fix him."

"And his tail's grown back, too!"

"His tail?" Goku said, startled. "Great! That ought to make a huge difference. You know how long he's been waiting!"

"He stopped waiting three months ago." Goku and Bulma turned to Goten.

"What?"

"His tail grew back three months ago," Goten repeated in a voice used for inattentive kindergartners. "And he was sick then."

"It did not! He was not." Bulma protested. "I would have known!"

"I was there when it happened, three months ago. And he was sick then. You were on a business trip, had taken Trunks with you."

Goku stared at his son. Three months ago… and Trunks hadn't been here? "You mean, that week?"

"That week."

"What week?"

"It's a… a Saiyan thing," Goku temporized hastily. "Coming of age and all that. Vegeta helped Gohan out with it too, remember?"

Goten left his father stumbling over an attempt to explain why Vegeta had had to handle it this time since he was back from the dead, and walked to the room where Vegeta lay. The Saiyan looked like hell, Goten thought reflexively, approaching the bed. He took it all in. Small white room, Vegeta on the bed with an IV hooked up, a small table next to the bed. "Dammit, doesn't that woman think? He'll have a fit if he wakes up in here!" he snarled.

Vegeta stirred, and Goten sat on the bed. "Hey, Vegeta. Keep your eyes closed for me."

"Goten?" His voice, soft and weak.

"Yeah. What're you doing to yourself?" He reached out, touched the prince carefully. "You look like you might blow away in a weak breeze."

"You're really here?" Vegeta struggled to open his eyes.

"I'm really here. No, don't open your eyes. You're in the med bay, and you know what those rooms are like."

"Need to… see you." Heavy lids opened, blinking slowly as his vision cleared. He focused, finally. "Goten."

"Yeah, it's me, see?" He cupped Vegeta's face, thumb tracing across trembling lips. "I'm here."

Vegeta closed his eyes, turning to nuzzle against Goten's hand, a single tear escaping. "Don't leave me."

"I won't." Goten smiled shakily as the prince wrapped his tail around him. "I'll stay with you."

Vegeta smiled, and fell asleep.

An hour later, his father came. "Goten? Time to go."

"No."

"Your mother is ready to go."

"So take her. I'm staying. I promised."

"Promised?"

"I promised him I wouldn't leave. Look around, Dad."

Goku did, and blanched. "Oh, I see. Yeah. Um… okay, then. Until he wakes up."

"No. I'll stay until he's better. He wasn't in this bad of shape three months ago, and he wasn't sleeping or eating much then."

Goku approached the bed, looking down at Vegeta. "He looks like he did after he first healed. All… half-gone." He noticed the tail around Goten's waist. "His tail…"

"It grew back, yeah. Three months ago. I told you that."

"No, that's not what I meant." Goku frowned. "Actually, I'm not sure what I meant." He rubbed the back of his head, where the scar from his fall was, a look of faint annoyance on his face. "I really hate it when that happens."

"So do the rest of us, Dad. I'll be fine." He stroked the tail around his waist absently. "Dad?"

"What?"

"How come you cut off my tail?"

"Me?!" Goku exclaimed. "Whaddya mean, me! I was dead!"

"Why did Mother, then?"

Goku sighed. "Probably because the moon has a habit of reappearing after being blown up. It's a lot easier to remove a tail than replace a moon."

"What does the moon have to do with anything?"

"Saiyans, the ones with tails, transform when the moon is full," Goku explained. "We turn into giant monkeys, with really big teeth and worse tempers. Destroy everything. It was a long time before I knew that." He sounded sad. "The first time it happened to me, I killed my Grandpa. But, I didn't know I'd done it, I thought a monster had come, and I'd slept through it. It wasn't until after Vegeta came that I realized I was the one who had killed him."

"Oh." There wasn't much Goten could say to that. "Does… does that mean Vegeta will lose his tail again?"

"No. He was trained to control that form."

"That's good."

"Well, I guess I better take your mother home. I'll… bring you some clothes."

"Okay."

Goten found it hard to believe how rarely Bulma or Trunks came to see Vegeta. The nurse Bulma hired brought in their meals, and did all the routine things nurses did, and would leave again. She showed up every three hours or so, and would sit with Vegeta while Goten got some time outside. Trunks, Goten figured, came by about twice a week, and he only saw Bulma once the first month he was there.

"Why does it bother you?"

"What?"

"That they don't come. Why does it bother you?" Vegeta repeated.

"It seems… wrong. If it were my father, Mother would be with him all the time. Gohan and I would be in and out."

Vegeta laughed weakly, but his laughter was harsh. "I don't doubt Bulma and Trunks would be in and out as well." He sighed. "I was never like your father. Never one to show emotion, or be demonstrative. Remember Buu? That was the first time I had held Trunks since he was an infant. It was also the last time, and the only time I ever told him I was proud of him."

"But why?" Goten asked.

Vegeta looked up at the boy. "Why? I didn't know any other way. My father took me on outings to destroy worlds, and occasionally, would tell me I'd done a good job. But he never once told me he was proud of me. Of my strength, but not of me. And with Frieza…" Vegeta shuddered. "With Frieza, from the time I was a little boy… there was no… no…" Vegeta sank his head against Goten's shoulder. "Being held was not pleasant. If he did say he was proud of me, it was always said with derision.

"Why would Trunks want to visit me? I have never been a good father to him. As for Bulma, I've known for years she loves her work far more than she ever loved me. Even if I hadn't remembered, she made it painfully obvious when I returned here." Vegeta closed his eyes, the vivid realization of her rejection piercing him again. "It is no surprise to me that she doesn't come."

Goten cradled the prince, stroking his back. The two often sat that way for hours at a time. So, when Goku used his Instant Transmission to go visit his son, that's what he saw.

"Hi, guys," he said cheerily.

"Hi, Dad." "Kakarot."

"Um, oh! That's right. Goten, your mother sent you this." He held out the picnic basket he held. Goten promptly took it away, setting it on the side of the bed opposite his father. Vegeta sniffed appreciatively, some of the smells emanating from it were delicious. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty okay. Vegeta!" Goten moved the picnic basket out of Vegeta's reach. "Do you really want to display food with my dad around?"

"Hey!"

Vegeta snorted at Goku's indignant squawk. "No. I wouldn't get any."

"That's not very nice!"

"I never claimed to be nice, Kakarot. Besides, it's true. You'd eat it all and even Goten wouldn't get any."

"I guess that means you're better!"

"No, he's just trying to act like it. He wouldn't still be in bed if he were better," Goten pointed out.

"I just can't put anything past you, can I?"

"Past me?" Goten contrived to look innocent, which, being a miniature of his father, he couldn't help doing admirably. "I don't know what you mean."

Goku was busy rubbing the back of his head, an irritated expression on his face. "Now, why…" He eyed Vegeta's tail, wrapped around Goten's waist as it usually was when he arrived. "Vegeta?"

"What do you want, Kakarot?"

"Every time I see your tail, I get a headache."

Vegeta looked at his tail, then Goku, his expression a cross between amusement and confusion (amusion?) "And how is that my fault?"

"Why would I get a headache because your tail is around my son?" His attention turned to his son. "And why is your energy so weird?"

"It's just your Saiyan memories trying to surface," Vegeta said coldly. "And there is nothing wrong with…" He stared at Goten.

"What?" The boy looked from one to the other. Vegeta's look was one of unholy glee, his father's a confused worry. "Okay, what's going on?"

"There is nothing wrong with the boy's energy," Vegeta finished, sounding smug. "Not one little thing." His tail loosened from Goten's waist, snaking under the teen's shirt to stroke his belly.

"Oh!" Goten understood immediately. Vegeta had told him of the possibility of pregnancy during their week together, not knowing Goten already knew. "I'm fine, Dad."

"Are you sure? Your energy signal really is different."

"I'm sure." He looked at Vegeta. "Quite sure," he added softly, as the prince's lips met his own.

Goku watched in bemused fascination as their kiss deepened, becoming, in his opinion, distressingly intimate. As was the embrace. "Um, guys?"

"Go away," Vegeta advised, then returned his full attention to Goten.

"But…" Goku's eyes widened. "But he's my son!" he protested.

"Go away, Dad," Goten said, his voice already heavy with passion. He took advantage of Vegeta's weakness to push the Saiyan against the pillows, kissing a trail down the prince's chest toward the edge of the blankets.

Goku stood, unable to believe what he saw, as his Saiyan knowledge finally surfaced in the face of the others' passion. Kakarot closed the door behind him, standing guard before it. He had only one problem now – he still had to tell his wife. The Saiyan buried his face in his hands for a moment. That would not be fun. His tail lashed through the air before he curled it tightly around his waist.

It was so strange, having what amounted to two separate memories. He remembered being sent, now, and all of the instruction he'd received on his way to Earth. He remembered being Kakarot, for the short amount of time before he'd fallen and hit his head. No wonder Vegeta had mocked him so much! The prince would have killed him if it wasn't for the fact he was the weaker of the two. He'd tried more than once, even so.

Rival to the prince, but considering him a friend for all this time. Feeling betrayed whenever Vegeta had tried to kill him, hurt when he was mocked. Even though Vegeta never, ever acknowledged his wish to ignore his Saiyan heritage, always calling him by his Saiyan name if he wasn't being insulting about his low level. Always pushing the fact that he was a full-blooded Saiyan, always looking down on him for choosing human ways over Saiyan ones, telling him of Saiyan customs Goku never practiced.

It had taken the Prince choosing his son, his half-breed son, for his memories to surface. The headaches he'd been having… he'd thought they were from sleep deprivation at first, until Vegeta had stopped screaming them all awake at night. He'd been so wrong.

He dove into the stream, the icy water shaking him from his reflections for a moment. Breaking the surface, he took a deep breath before diving again. Vegeta. How hard the Prince had pushed his heritage! How proud he was of it, of being pure-bred, and how he had ridiculed even his own son for being a half-breed with weak human emotions.

What had it taken? He broke the surface again, treading water. How had Bulma gotten that proud, arrogant man to love her? Because he knew Vegeta loved Bulma, for all he so rarely showed it. How had she won him over? Gotten him to give her the children he rarely acknowledged the existence of, except for training?

Why would he have let her, come to think of it? Then again… a moment of weakness? Maybe she had said that… Ugh! Goku shook his head. It was best not to remember that particular incident. Bulma wouldn't have used that, would she have? He considered the way Vegeta acted when he was near Bulma at the same time as the Prince, groaned. She had. So that explained Trunks' existence. But the love? That had probably just taken time. It seems everyone falls in love with Bulma.

He left the water, found a patch of sun. Those three years, when they'd been waiting for the androids to arrive…. So long ago, that strange sparring session with Vegeta. And another one, after Majin Buu. He recognized them now for what they were. Vegeta had known, after all, that he was capable of bearing a child. And he was the only other full-blooded Saiyan left. Trunks had been born shortly after the first match, Bra after the second. Vegeta was the Prince of the Saiyans, and he had wanted two things: to continue his line, and repopulate his people. He'd settled for half-breeds, because he wasn't strong enough to take… "Me," the Saiyan warrior breathed. "I was too strong, and I didn't understand what you were asking. And you asked again, my Prince, while you were so wounded, and I was too much a fool to realize it! So, you took my son instead."

Kakarot shook his head. "I have been such a fool."

"I wouldn't mate with your spawn!" Goten sighed unhappily. How many times would he remember hearing that? The sneering tone, seeing the disgusted look on Vegeta's face. He stroked a hand protectively over the barely visible bulge at his waist. Their child, his and Vegeta's. Vegeta had done what he said he wouldn't, but was so delighted by and proud of the child to come.

He stared blindly out the window. The Prince needed him now. He still had nightmares, still couldn't tolerate sleeping alone. In all other respects, Vegeta seemed completely healed. His fingers pressed into the window ledge, spiky hair touching the pane as his head drooped. When would Vegeta begin to regret what he'd done? And what would he do? Would he despise their child then? Would he… Goten choked back a sob.

Strong arms encircled him, turning him, pulling him against the muscular chest. He dropped his head against his lover's shoulder, trembling with the force of his emotions, tears leaking from tightly clenched eyes. "What is wrong?"

"Everything." He stroked Vegeta's tail, nuzzling hungrily against his neck. An effective distraction.

For awhile.

Everything? Vegeta watched as another tear slid down Goten's face. Everything was so wrong that the boy would cry in his sleep? True enough. Things were wrong. Kakarot had told the boy's mother. She had disowned him, then told his brother. Gohan hadn't been by since, nor Videl or young Pan, though all three had visited often enough before. Trunks hadn't been seen by either of them since he'd walked in for one of his rare visits, with a friend, to find them being intimate. So the boy had lost his best friend, as well as most of his family. And since his father's memories had returned, even Kakarot treated him differently – as the consort of his Prince, and not as his son. As if that wasn't enough, he had a Saiyan pregnancy to deal with, and all the hormonal changes that went with that.

He wasn't even leaving Capsule Corp. anymore either, Vegeta realized. Not to go to the arcade, or see a game, or for the training he could still do. He didn't visit any of his friends, and the happy-go-lucky boy had many of them. Had had, Vegeta amended. They'd come to Capsule Corp. at the beginning to see him, or Trunks. He knew some of them still came to see Trunks, but none had visited Goten in the last few months.

Not since the day his son and the other boy had walked in on them, actually.

Vegeta ran his palm over the slight bulge, let his hand hover. The child… their child… was the cause of so much of the boy's pain. He was the rest of the cause. He could… end it. End it all. Send the boy with his father, tell the other Saiyan to apologize for the horrible prank he'd pulled on his wife. Kakarot would do it, for his son's sake, if nothing else. But… Goten… his child… could he… should he? His hand trembled, lowered, a small ball of energy forming. He felt for the child's energy, found it easily, just as he felt his son move for the first time. "I'm sorry."

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I told you it was evil.